


Sphere

by EgyptianRose



Category: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (TV 2012)
Genre: F/M, Mighty Mutanimals - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-10-04
Updated: 2019-01-07
Packaged: 2019-01-09 02:17:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 20
Words: 51,612
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12266883
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EgyptianRose/pseuds/EgyptianRose
Summary: They are known as Evixus and their goal is to collect the minds of every human on planet Earth. A series of events leads April to lose her psychic power and she'll do whatever it takes to keep from being left behind. Even give Evixus what they want: Donnie. A story of Betrayal, Friendship and Romance.





	1. Museum

"The Sphere of Knowledge was recovered deep beneath the earth, where some say the great Library of Alexandria once stood. Scientists are eager to uncover secrets long since lost to time." Carlos Chiang O'Brien Gambe said.

"The Library of Alexandria?" Donatello ran from his lab and joined his brothers in the common area of the lair, they were watching Channel Six News. "Are you serious?"

"What's so special about that?" Michelangelo asked.

"Do you realize all of the advance tech we could have these days if not for that library going up in flames?" Donatello asked, it still hurt him to think about it but this discovery could be major. "Oh, we have to go see it." He said.

"You can see it when they air it this weekend." Leonardo said. "From here in the lair."

"That's not the same thing." Donatello pouted.

"Well it has to be that way, they are only displaying it this weekend during the day and then it's going back so that it can be studied further." He said. "There's no way we'll get in there without being seen."

"Then we'll sneak in a night." Donatello said as if it were the easiest solution in the world.

"No." Leonardo said, "End of discussion."

"I'm sure it'll come back once the scientists are done doing their thing, you can see it then." Raphael said. "It's not a big deal."

"Ah, you guys don't understand." Donatello said but returned to his lab anyway. Not being one to pout he gathered a few things that would help him and slipped out of the lair. If they weren't going to be on his side then he'd just go without them.

When Donatello reached the surface a pleasant breeze washed over him, the streets of New York were empty and the moon hung low in the sky. It was the perfect night to be out and for now, there didn't seem to be a crime to stop. He was free to go wherever he wanted and so when he reached April's apartment home he thought nothing of it.

Checking the time, he noticed that it was a bit late for her to be awake, still he found himself at her window, and he looked inside, the moon's glow casting a perfect ray of light over her sleeping face. Donatello leaned in closer, allowing a few extra moments to take in her beauty.

Donatello quickly shook away his thoughts, becoming a creeper wasn't exactly his goal when it came to April. No, he wanted to wait for the right time to tell her, though she could probably tell that he was in love with her, he wanted the words to come from his mouth. He'd had many opportunities to say something but there was always something gnawing at the back of his mind. Donatello caught his reflection in the window and sighed, could there be a place for a mutant and a human to fall in love?

"Okay, Donatello, that's enough." He said to himself. "Let's just start with a date… yeah, a date… at the Museum. Yeah, we'll have the whole place to ourselves." Donatello held both of his fists to his chest with all the excitement of a five-year-old catching Santa on Christmas morning.

Donatello knocked on April's window lightly at first then harder when she didn't seem to stir. The second knock did the trick, April hurried to the window and threw it open. "What's going on? I'll get my tessen." She said, her hair was a mess and her pajamas were disheveled and to Donatello she looked like an angel in the moonlight, hair falling down her shoulders as it was.

"No need for that." Donatello said after regaining his senses.

"Huh? Then why wake me up. I have a test tomorrow. Do you know what time it is?" she asked.

"Sorry it's so late. I had to sneak out." Donatello said, "But this is totally worth it."

"I can tell by how excited you are…" she paused for a moment then said, "Wait, why did you have to sneak out?"

"Because, my brothers wouldn't approve of me breaking into the Museum of Natural History." Donatello said, wearing a guilty look and touching both of his pointer fingers together at the tips.

April took a step back and frowned. "What? And you think I do?"

"I know what you're thinking but don't worry." He said. "Did you watch the news today?"

"Hmm?" April looked toward the ceiling trying to remember if anything major happened in the news; then her it clicked and her eyes widened. "The Sphere of Knowledge?"

"Right, I just want to see it." Donatello said.

"And you can't do that without sneaking in because it's only going on display this Saturday from ten to two." She finished.

"Exactly." He said.

"And the reason you came here was?"

"Well, don't you want to see it too?" he asked.

"I don't know." She said, "I mean I can wait until Saturday." April was about to give him a definitive no but the puppy-dog eyes he was giving her stopped her. "I guess it could be fun to see it before anyone else."

"Yes." He smiled then held out a hand to her, he felt like a prince coming to whisk his princess away.

"Yeah, there's no way I'm going like this." She said then turned to go back to her room to change.

"I think you look great." He said but if she heard him he couldn't tell. Instead she closed the curtains on him. "Okay, I'll wait for you on the roof." He said and made his way to the roof.

Several moments later, April climbed up her fire escape, "Ready." She said.

"This is gonna be so awesome." Donatello said.

The pair set out toward the museum, hopping from one rooftop to another until they had reached their destination. Donatello dropped down to the ground near a back entrance and hurried to unlock the door while April was climbing down. "Got it." He said when April was at his side.

"I wonder what room they put it in." April asked. "But knowing you, I'm sure you have a plan."

"Well, you see, I sort of just came out here on a whim." Donatello said sheepishly

"Just great." April rolled her eyes, "Okay, let's just hope we find it before we set off an alarm or something."

They slipped into the building, it was eerie to say the least but April was able to push past it because her adrenaline was running at full force. It was exciting to be somewhere she wasn't supposed to be, plus she'd always loved the museum.

"This way." Donatello said, using his T-phone to illuminate the path he wished them to take. "Follow me." He said and made his way down the hall.

April hurried to keep up with him, she'd left her phone back in her room and didn't feel like getting separated to be alone in the dark. She grabbed Donatello's hand, he flinched slightly and April assumed it was because she had startled him. "Sorry." She said.

"N-No, it's okay." He said, giving her hand a gentle squeeze of reassurance.

They hurried down the corridor of one more room before the walls opened up to reveal a grand display room, the stanchions that would normally block the room until the exhibit was open were neatly set aside. This had to be the room Donatello thought and shined the light of his phone into the room.

There it was, behind a cubic glass case, it was the focal piece in the room, and the walls around the room were decorated with pictures of what the Library of Alexandria may have looked like, along with lore surrounding its magnificence. Donatello wasted no time in making his way toward the Sphere, but his expectations were dashed when he set eyes on it. It looked like a regular old crystal ball, nothing fancy at all except that there were no real signs of aging.

"Huh," April said, she was leaning in so close that Donatello could smell her flowery scent. "It looks like one of those gazing balls that people put in their yards for decoration."

"Yeah, I mean I guess for being hundreds of years old, it is in pristine condition, which is kind of neat." Donatello said. "Well this was disappointing. Sorry, April."

"Hey, don't worry about it, it just means that my Saturday is free." She said.

"That's true…" Donatello placed a finger to his chin in thought, "I'm free too. Do you maybe want to-" he was cut off by the sound of two pairs of shoes walking toward them from down the hall. Donatello looked toward April. "Getting anything?"

"Yeah, two guys, they are planning on stealing the Sphere." She said.

"It should be around here somewhere." One of the guys said. Donatello and April hurried to the right side of the room and hid behind a small pedestal on which sat a few other artifacts.

"There it is." The other man said and suddenly a beam of light sliced through the air, Donatello had to yank April closer to him so that she wouldn't be seen.

"The alarm should be off." The first man said and April got a feeling that shook her to her core, the man was deathly afraid of failing. Too bad for him, there was no way he was going to steal the Sphere with her and Donatello on the scene.

"Good. Let's just get that thing and get out of here, this place gives me the creeps." The second man said. The first man lifted the glass box to reveal the Sphere.

"It certainly doesn't look like much." He said.

"Looks can be deceiving." Donatello said, staff at the ready.

"What the…" the first man retrieved a knife from his back pocket and poked it toward Donatello, "What are you?"

"Your worst nightmare." Donatello said, feeling proud, he'd always wanted to say that. While Donatello was distracted by the first man the second made his way over to the pedestal and reached toward the Sphere.

Before the second man could grab it, however, it levitated into the air and floated toward his left toward… a girl? "Aren't you out past your bedtime, little girl?" he asked, completely ignoring the fact that she had used her power to get the Sphere away from him.

The man jumped at her causing April to lose her concentration, the Sphere fell to the ground when April sprung out of the way. The pair hurried toward the Sphere, but April was too slow and the man kicked April aside and grabbed the Sphere.

"I got it." The man said, holding the Sphere up in victory. Suddenly an elbow found his ribs and he doubled over in pain, dropping the Sphere as he did. "Stupid girl."

April stood above him proudly for a moment and hurried for the Sphere, she grabbed it tightly with both of her hands. The Sphere suddenly burst forth a blinding light, Donatello looked at her, and distracted from his fight, took a blow to the stomach that sent him to the ground.

The light from the Sphere faded slowly and April felt a jolt of power bite into her fingertips, it caused her to drop the Sphere. The jolt of power continued its assault as it slid up her arm and into her brain, she held her head with both hands in an attempt to lessen the pain.

The Sphere, momentarily forgotten, rolled away into the darkness where the man April was fighting scooped it up. "Got it." He said. "Let's go."

"What should we do with those two?"

"Leave 'em we got what we need and the cops are on the way."

Once the pair had vanished, Donatello pushed himself up off the ground, he felt embarrassed to be beat down that easily by a lowly thug, and with April in the same room. And to make matters worse, the thugs got away with their prize.

Donatello stopped in his thoughts when he heard April fall to the ground with a thud. "April!" he hurried to her side, she was curled up in the fetal position, gripping her head as hard as she could. The sirens were getting louder and he had to get them out of there before the cops arrived.

Donatello scooped April up into his arms, no matter how many times he'd picked her up, she always felt small in his arms, and the urge to be the one to keep her safe ran through him. "You'll be okay, I've got you." She managed to pull her hands away from her head so she could wrap her arms around his neck.

"I-I think I'm okay now." She said.

"Good."

* * *

"This is most certainly not good." Leonardo said in full lecture mode, "I told you not to go and you did anyway, then you brought April along." He turned his attention to April, "and you, you can go to the museum any time you want."

"Sorry Leo." April said, pathetically.

"And to top it off, you let the bad guys get away." Leonardo took a deep breath, there was no point in yelling at them now. He had to focus on the task at hand, "April, can you sense what those guys are up to?"

"Um… actually. I can't sense anything, I mean from anyone right now." She said. "Before I touched the Sphere I could tell that the men were scared, not of being caught but of failing someone."

"You lost your power? Why didn't you say something?" Donatello asked.

"Because I thought it was just a temporary thing, I mean, I still do." She said. "I don't think it's a big deal but I can't help you this time, Leo."

"Well in any case we have to get that Sphere back." Leonardo said. "And find out what the heck they want it for."


	2. Secret

April walked through the streets of New York staring at a letter in her hand, Casey walking beside her. They had just finished watching the newest fall horror, "Conquest of the Human Switchers" and though Casey was eager to talk about it April was a little too preoccupied.

"What's the big deal about that piece of junk mail, red?" he asked, frustration flowing through every word. He wanted to talk about the movie.

"It's not junk." She said. "I could really help me."

"Wait, so you are actually thinking about joining that school?" he asked, "It's filled with stuck up little rich kids." The look of disgust on his face almost made April laugh. "Besides our school year has already started."

"Yeah but not that long ago, I could transfer now and not miss too much." She said, plus it would totally erase the D minus she'd gotten because of her late night at the museum.

"You don't know anything about that place." He said. "Plus, why would they randomly invite you to join after school's just started. Seems fishy."

"I've been trying to find a way to get my power back, sometimes life helps you out." It had been a week since she'd lost her power and she felt handicapped, she hated it.

Casey, already aware of April's missing power and the fact that it was killing her only nodded. Still, he wasn't so sure that a school could really help anyone with psychic abilities achieve anything.

"Besides, if it is a trap, which I don't think it is, don't you think I could handle a bunch of rich kids?" she said.

"I mean, I guess." He really didn't like the feeling he was getting deep in his stomach, could it have been the nachos he had during the movie? No, this was different, this was intuition. If he wanted to keep her from going he'd have to use a different tactic. Friendship.

"I was sort hoping we would graduate together, Red. You can't do this to me." Casey pouted.

"I'm sorry Casey but, not only could this school bring by my power back, it could help me improve my technique. Ever since I lost the Aeon crystal I've had to work three times as hard to keep my power up. I want to be able to keep up with the Turtles." She said.

"Is that what this is really about?" he asked, "You don't need your power to keep up with them. You do know that you're a pretty good fighter, right?" He said.

"You don't get it." She said. "I'm going to transfer, this is the right move."

"Well, I guess you know what you're doing." Casey said, it was obvious he wasn't going to change her mind, he'd just have to be on the lookout.

"I do." She smiled triumphantly.

"Now, for the really important question. How dope was that movie. Ha, I like the part where Nix pretended to be an alien to infiltrate their base and then BAM!" he said and for emphasis jumped in the air and brought down his hand in a chopping motion. "Right in its stupid alien head."

"Come on Casey that movie was all cheese." April said, teasing Casey. "But seriously, are you going to be okay if I transfer?"

"Huh? Yeah of course, it's not like you'll be leaving the city, we can still hang out and stuff, and then there's going on patrol."

"No, I mean, are you going to make it through your classes okay?"

"Hey, you're the one who got a D minus on your chemistry test." He said.

"Shut up." She flushed red with embarrassment, "And what did you get?"

"A D plus." He grinned widely.

The pair came around a familiar corner and reached for the manhole cover in the alley and just as Casey's fingers were upon it, it lifted up into the air. Michelangelo grinned up at them and stepped out onto the street followed by his brothers.

"What's going on guys?" April asked, on high alert. She hadn't sensed any danger, then again, why would she have?

"We have a lead on the guys who stole the Sphere." Leonardo said. "You guys can wait for us at the lair if you want."

"No way, we can put our _Professor Whom_ marathon on hold for now, we're gonna come with you, right, Red?" Casey asked.

"Right." April said, she was unsure, not being able to use her power filled her with such anxiety that she felt like she'd only be a hindrance. "But, I thought the trail went cold how did you get a lead?"

"Leatherhead overheard some guys talking about the museum heist and talking about how "this next score" was going to be just as easy." Michelangelo explained.

"So where is the "next score"?" Casey asked, punching a fist into his hand, "it's been a while since I got to punch someone in the face."

"What are you talking about? You punched Isaac in the face for stealing some girl's backpack, just this afternoon." April said.

"Nah, this is different. Isaac is just a douc bag. These are real criminals." Casey said.

"Okay, can we focus?" Leonardo said, pulling his team back together. "First off, April, can you sense anything?" he asked her, of course she let the Turtles believe that her power had come back days ago. She didn't want them worrying about her, but lies always had a way of coming back.

"Well, I…"

"Who cares," Casey said, not wanting the Turtles to press April any further. She made him promise not to tell the others that her power was gone. She must believe that the guys wouldn't accept her as part of the team with her greatest asset gone. Even though Casey tried to tell her that the guys wouldn't ever do that, it was April's decision. "Let's just go." He said and hurried out into the street.

"Casey, Wait, you don't even know where to go." Leonardo said, trailing off into silence near the end since Casey could no longer hear him anyway. "Mikey go with Casey."

"I'm on it." He said and hurried after his partner.

"The Heist is happening at a warehouse two blocks from here." Leonardo said for April's benefit since he'd briefed his brothers on the location earlier. "Donnie, you and April go around the east side while Raph and I take the west." Leonardo said.

* * *

"You really don't sense anything, April?" Donatello asked as they jumped from building to building looking for anything suspicious.

"No." April closed her eyes and legitimately tried to tap into her power but nothing came back to her, as expected.

"That's odd." Donatello said.

"What?"

"I've noticed that the last few times any of us have asked you, you've said no or that you were too far away." He paused for a moment to make sure he was remembering correctly, then nodded. "Is there something going on?" he pressed.

April looked at him in surprise, how could he tell? Was she doing a bad job of hiding it? No that couldn't be it because not even Leo couldn't seem to tell. "Something going on? What? Of course not." She said. She couldn't let herself become a liability.

"I guess it is possible that these guys aren't human and you can't read them." He said. "It doesn't matter anyway, look." He pointed down at the street where an unmarked semi was parked. It was pulled up to a loading dock on the east side of the warehouse.

"Can't be good." April said. "Not if they have a truck that big."

"True, I guess they don't care about not being seen. Let's get a closer look." Donatello scooped April up in his arms and used his grappling hook to swing them down to the ground quietly.

They made their way around to the back of the truck and were shocked to see a few guys in ski masks rolling dolly carts with huge black boxes on them.

"That's a supercomputer." Donatello exclaimed a little too loudly, which drew unwanted attention their way.

* * *

Donatello and Raphael slipped into the building quietly, they had spotted a few men inside trying to move, what looked like, a part of a supercomputer away from a wall. By the look of the room they were "collecting" the last part.

Leonardo was close enough to grab one guy but as he was about to strike, something came through on his walky-talky. "Looks like we have two visitors, a girl and some sort of…turtle?"

"Crap." Raphael said and before either man could react he grabbed one of them and quickly dispatched him while Leonardo took down his original target.

The pair made their way to the loading dock, on the way they encountered Casey and Michelangelo beating the crap out of a group of thugs, they must've heard the warning as well.

"April behind you!" Donatello's voice cut through the air and the rest of the team hurried toward his voice. Raphael and Leonardo came bursting through the door first and a man with a gun fired at April.

The world stood still for a moment as the team looked on in horror, the bullet headed straight for April. Donatello hesitated for a moment, at any moment April would use her power to stop the bullet in midair, right?

After a beat, when I was apparent that she wouldn't Donatello hurried to cover her. The bullet missed his arm by a millimeter and hit his shell ricocheting away into the distance.

Then, while the turtles were distracted he rest of the thugs including the man with the gun sped off with most of the supercomputer and were gone.

"Damn it, they got away." Raphael said, eager to teach the man with a gun a lesson.

"What was that, April?" Donatello was livid, why hadn't she tried to stop the bullet? Did she want to die? "What's going on?" Donatello's outburst caused the others to turn their attention away from the escaping truck and back at April and Donatello.

"I-I um." April took a breath. That was a close call.

"Start talking, April." Donatello said, his tone still drenched in anger.

"I don't have my powers anymore." She said finally. Donatello took a step back, the anger melted away and was replaced by guilt.

"What?" Leonardo said. "Why didn't you tell us sooner? You could have been hurt."

"I just don't want to hold you guys back."

"But you ARE holding us back by not telling us when something is wrong. We can tailor our plans better if we know everything." Leonardo said.

"I don't want you to have to do that."

"The only reason I didn't save you earlier was because I thought that you would stop the bullet." Donatello looked down at his hands, seemingly lost in his own world of shock. "I almost let you die." The realization of the fact that she could easily be dead on the ground at this moment caused his anger to rise again. Raphael placed a gentle hand on his brother's back to calm him a bit.

"Not to mention you have one heck of a scratch on your shell now." Raphael pointed out. "Lucky it was just your shell."

"You see, April. Someone can get hurt if we aren't all honest with each other. We are a team and knowing when one of us is in trouble can help a lot."

"Okay. I get it." April turned to leave the alley.

"Hey, wait, what about the T.V. marathon?" Michelangelo asked.

"I'm not in the mood." April hurried off into the darkness.

* * *

A few days later April sat in the office of her new school and waited for the headmaster to call her in. After that night with the supercomputer, April knew she had to do something to remain a valid part of the team. Joining the Academy and entering into the psychic program was just what the doctor ordered.

"April O'Neal." The sweet voice of the lady at the front desk said, causing April to stand. "The headmaster will see you now."

April opened the door to the headmaster's office and was surprised that his office wasn't filled with dark wood walls and a presidential feel. No it was more like an imitation of the Apple store, sleek sliver walls, high tech sensors, Donatello would kill to have an office like this.

"April O'Neal." The headmaster spoke, his voice just as sweet as the lady up front. "Welcome. I understand that you are joining our Clairvoyants Program."

"That's right." She said. "So I'm here to pick up my class schedule."

"Right, of course." The headmaster grabbed a piece of paper from his desk and handed it to her. "I hope that you come to enjoy life, here at the Academy." He said. "By the way, the head of the Clairvoyants Program wanted to introduce themselves properly."

There was a knock at the door, the person behind it didn't wait to be welcomed, and instead they just walked in. In April's opinion this person was too handsome to be a faculty member of a stuck up prep school.

"Welcome, April O'Neal." He said, offering his hand to her. She took it. "I wanted to personally welcome you into the program. My name is Evixus."


	3. Academy

April rested her chin against her hand while she scrolled through the tablet that had been assigned to her by the Academy. She'd gotten it a few days after joining, it was loaded with her scheduled classes, the books for said classes and a calendar app that let her know what and when work needed to be done.

She'd been at it for weeks and was finally caught up with her extra workload and was able to keep with her training, which was a bit tougher than before because she felt blind.

After taking some time to cool down about her lost power she figured that keeping up her fighting ability was key. She asked Leonardo for special training lessons in addition to training with Splinter. There was no way she'd be left behind and no way she'd put any of them in danger now.

"Hey, April." April lifted her head at the familiar voice and turned to meet Casey.

"Hey." April pulled out a seat for her former school mate, it felt really good to see him.

"It's been a while. Seems like whenever I want to hang out with you, you are busy with school work or training." He said, his eyes fell on the tablet April was scrolling through

"What the heck is that, Red?" Casey asked, noticing just how packed the calendar was and his eyes widened. All of April's classes seemed to be AP classes and there didn't seem to be a black spot on her calendar at all.

"It's a tablet computer." She said.

Casey clicked his tongue, he knew what a tablet was. "I MEAN; how do you have time for all of that?"

"It's a delicate balance but I've got the hang of it." She said. "Don't worry about it."

"We'll there is one thing that might upset that balance." He said, "Maybe a little thing called fighting crime. You think criminals can stick to your schedule?"

"There's no need. I know where my priorities are, the city comes first."

"I guess." He said then face-palmed, remembering why he was there. "I was looking for you and because SOMEONE won't answer my texts I had to go all over the city looking for you."

"You should know I can be found at one of four places, my house, Springhill Academy, the lair and Murakami-san's. And look where you found me." April spread out her arms to reveal the Murakami's restaurant.

"Okay, so I spent a few minutes at the arcade. Sue me." He said. "Geez, you're as grumpy as Raph these days."

"I've noticed that too, I'm sorry." She said, taking a breath. "So what did you need me for?"

"Leo wants us all to meet up tonight. Donnie managed to get some info from the part of the supercomputer we got two months ago."

"It took that long for him to find something?" April blinked, she assumed that the mystery of the stolen Sphere would never be solved.

"He said it was hard to hack into because the guys we're up against are really good or something like that, I spaced out while he was talking." Casey said.

"Where do we meet?" April asked.

"The abandoned TCRI chemical plant." He said

"All this time and TCRI is still a ruining my life." April grimaced, "what about TCRI?"

"Donnie was saying something about a left over power supply." Casey said.

"I'll be there." She said. "Thanks."

"Well, as long as we are waiting around, let's hang out until we meet up with the Turtles."

"Can't, I have a ten-page essay due tomorrow and then some work to do for the Clairvoyance Program." She said.

"Okay, well, I'll see you later." Casey said, making his way to the door he couldn't help but get a bad feeling.

* * *

April met up with the Turtles and Casey just outside the chain-link fence of the abandoned chemical plant and was surprised to see the small wall of armed humanoid robot guards watching the door. "What's up with that?" April said through a yawn. Casey gave her a knowing look and she waved him off.

"Looks like whoever's behind all this is catching on to us." Leonardo said. "They came prepared."

"I think that's over kill." Casey said. "Look at those automatic weapons, we don't stand a chance." He said. "What's the plan for getting past those guys?"

"Stealth." Leonardo said. "Donnie and April and Mikey, try to find information on what exactly they plan to do with the stuff they've stolen. Raph, Casey and I will stop them from getting the power supply. We can't fail this time; this could be their last mission before they drop off the radar. We got lucky that Donnie was able to find out about this heist."

"Okay, enough talk, Leo." Raph said and charged through the gate, Casey at his heels.

"Guys wait! That's not stealth." Leonardo let out a sigh before hurrying after them.

"Let's go then." Donatello said. "While the others distract the robot army we'll sneak in through the back."

Donatello, followed by April and Michelangelo, hurried up the steps to an unguarded door with an old keypad attached, he knew that it had power because of the light it emitted. "Simple, I'll have us in in two minutes." He said and set to work on unlocking the door.

"Uh, Donnie?" Michelangelo said after a few moments, "This place was shut down right?"

"Yes, after the TCRI, Kraang conspiracy the government shut it down." Donatello said.

"So, if say a rocket launcher shot at one of the silos we'd be okay, right?"

"Yes, IF the silos were empty but these silos are still full, the government hasn't gotten around to safely getting rid of the chemical inside because it is from dimension X and they don't know how to handle it." Donatello said. "No if a rocket hit one of these silos they'd definitely explode."

"Then uh, I really think we should run." Michelangelo said and pointed toward a robot with a rocket launcher over its shoulder.

April gasped as the robot came closer to them, ready to fire. "Oh no, if we fight here that robot could end up hitting one of the silos." She said, "We'll lead it away."

April faced the robot and fanned out her Tessen she'd been training for days and this was her first real fight in a while. She was eager to test out her skills, April took a step and nearly tripped over her own feet. Michelangelo reached out to help her regain her balance.

"You okay, April."

"Yeah, fine." She said, turning to face the robot once more, her vision blurred for a moment but that didn't stop her. "Hey, you…"

"Overkill!" Michelangelo said suddenly. "That's what its name is."

"Hey, Overkill! If you want to stop us then you'll have to get through me." April turned and hurried toward the chain-link fence so that when the robot fired at her he wouldn't hit one of the silos.

The robot aimed for her and wasted no time in firing, April moved to the side thinking that the rocket would zip past her and hit something else. She was wrong. The rocket wheeled around and came at her again.

"Heat seeking rocket!" Michelangelo tried to come to April's aid, not that he knew what he'd do, he was good at making stuff up on the fly. The huge robot fired a laser gun at Michelangelo distracting him from April. "I'll take care of this guy. Run April!"

April didn't need to be told twice, she ran as fast as she could trying to come up with a plan to stop the rocket. She had to think of something soon, she couldn't keep running forever.

* * *

Running toward the darkness Raphael picked up speed only to roll to a stop when a laser came zipping past his head. He snarled and turned around to face his attacker, why was every villain's answer, robots with guns? He had his answer when the robot leapt into the air with lightning quickness only to come down on Raphael, pinning him to the ground.

Staring down the barrel, or rather up the barrel of an automatic laser gun had Raphael wondering how he'd gotten into this situation in the first place. Right, he had to be the hero and lead the last remaining robot of the army away while Casey and Leonardo retrieved the power supply.

"You've caused us enough trouble over these past two months." The robot said, this form of robot didn't seem like any they had encountered before and it left Raphael feeling a little creeped out.

"What can I say?" He shrugged, the rest of what he was going to say was left unsaid since "I'm a trouble maker" was too lame.

"Not much in a few seconds." The robot said.

At that moment April bounded through the darkness and spotted the robot hovering over Raphael, that was it. April ran faster and planted her hands on the robots shoulders and leapt over it. While the robot was distracted she pulled Raphael free. "Run."

Raphael didn't need to be told twice when he saw a rocked headed for them, he peeled himself off the ground and started running. April was still within the blast radius so Raphael scooped her up and jumped into a ditch at the side of the road. The Explosion that followed disintegrated the robot and warmed the November air.

"Yes! I did it." April said and tried to stand but her legs gave out and she noticed her world slanting, the ground coming closer.

"Woah. Got you." Raphael caught April in his arms and winced at how much weight she had seemingly lost. He studied her face, she had dark circles under her eyes and her face had thinned out some. Was she sleeping? Raphael carried April back to the chemical plant where he met up with his brothers and Casey.

"What happened?" Donatello asked, being the first to hurry to his brother's side. "Is she…"

"No. She just passed out." He said. "She doesn't look too good either."

"Let's get back to the lair, we have the power supply."

* * *

"Carlos Chang O'Brian Gambe here with Channel Six News, tonight's headline is the continued coverage of the missing teens. Another teen disappeared today but police say they have a lead that ties the teens together, they all attend Springhill Academy. More on this as it develops"

"That's the third disappearance in two weeks." Leonardo said. "They started after the Sphere and Supercomputer were stolen, I wonder if the disappearances have something to do with the heists."

"Springhill Academy?" Casey tapped a finger to his chin in thought, where had he heard that before?

"What's up, Casey?" Leonardo asked.

"I think that's April's school."

"I thought your school was April's school?" Michelangelo said.

"It was." He paused, "Wait, she didn't tell you?"

"No." Leonardo looked toward Donatello, if she would have told anyone anything it would be him but Donatello only shook his head. "What's going on?"

"Ah, geez," Casey rubbed the back of his head, being put on the spot was something he hated. "She transferred like a month ago. She transferred to join this clairancey class so she could get her power back."

"Do you mean clairvoyance?" Donatello corrected.

"Yeah, that."

"What is clairvoyance?" Michelangelo asked.

"It's just another term for telepathy." Leonardo said. "She must really desperate without her power."

"Well, wouldn't you be upset of you lost your katana?" Raphael said.

"Point taken." He said, "I guess if it works then there's no harm."

"No harm? Look at her, she hasn't been eating or sleeping right. I'd say there's a significant amount of harm." Donatello said. "How much work are they giving her at that school?"

"Even if it's not much, knowing April, she's overworking herself anyway." Leonardo said. "We'll investigate the school without getting her involved."

"Why not get her help, I mean she's our in." Raphael said, "Besides I think she'll be upset that we left her out."

"I don't want to add more to her plate by asking her to do this." Leonardo said. "It should be fine, it's a just a prep school filled with kids who rely on their rich parents."

"Oh yeah, cause people with lots of money are never a problem." Raphael said sarcastically.

* * *

April and the Turtles stood on the roof of a building and looked on in horror as a huge black tsunami blasted through their beloved city. The eerie silence that was left after everyone had drowned was worse than the screams of their deaths.

Once they were sure the water level had peaked at about thirty feet deep, everyone looked to Donatello for an answer to what was going on. "It seems to be a giant glob monster rather than water." He said. "I think if we find its heart, down there somewhere, we can kill it."

"Not so fast, Turtles." The group of six wheeled around to see who or what had spoken and what they found surprised them. The inky water loomed over them like a wave and a face formed in the seafoam. It spoke again, "You will drown with the rest of them."

"No way, Tidal Wave." Michelangelo said, quickly coming up with a name for their newest foe. Giving no more time for them to talk than that, Tidal Wave lifted two drill like pillars of water, which he used as arms, and brought them down onto the group.

Everyone sprung out of the way, landing safely on the rooftops of adjacent buildings. All except for April who had slipped from her ledge and was holding on tightly. She tried pulling herself up but she wasn't strong enough, it was almost as if her entire body had become paralyzed.

Ignoring the strain in her arms she held on tightly, one of the guys would surely help her up. She was right, suddenly, standing on the ledge was Leonardo but instead of offering his hand he glared down at her with malice in his eyes.

"Where's April?" April heard Donatello ask, he seemed to be a bit of a distance away and she tried to answer but her voice wouldn't respond.

"I thought she fell down here but I guess I was mistaken." Leonardo said. "We have to keep moving no matter what. Nothing will hold us back." He said.

April struggled so hard she managed to find the strength to grab Leonardo's leg as he turned to leave. "Wait, don't leave me behind."

"Sorry April, You're dead weight." Leonardo said and with that left April hanging from the ledge.

* * *

April opened her eyes, the tablet screaming in her ear, she recognized the ringtone as the one she set for her training with Leonardo. "Grr. LEO." April stomped her way to the dojo, the other turtles watching her.

"What's got April so mad?" Raphael watched, it was like looking at a work of art. "Glad I'm not going to be on the receiving end of that."

* * *

"I had a dream where you straight up ditched me." April said, entering the dojo to find Leonardo. She crossed the room and wheeled back before punching Leonardo full force in the arm.

"Ouch! What was that for?" Leonardo rubbed his forearm.

"For ditching me." April said.

"I'm not responsible for what I do in your dreams." Leonardo said and watched as April took a stance across the room. "Uh, actually I thought we'd take a break from training today."

"Why? You don't think I can keep up? Watch me." She said, her form was slightly off, Leonardo noted, he suspected that it was due to her lack of sleep and food.

"No, that's not it." He said. "I was just thinking of taking a break myself, it's been a while since I've had Pizza Gyoza. I feel like I haven't seen Murakami-san in ages."

"I don't feel like doing anything but training." She said.

"Okay, how about this. I treat you to dinner and then we come back here and train twice as hard."

"Fine." April said, she was hungry after all and it had been a while since she'd Murakami-san as well. "It'll give me a chance to catch up on my homework anyway."

* * *

"You don't hold back." Leonardo said, still rubbing his arm, he and April were the only ones at the restaurant.

"Don't be such a baby." April said, devouring her noodles with gusto. Leonardo was just happy she was eating. Part of being a leader is making sure his team was healthy too.

"Do you want to talk about that dream?" Leonardo asked, "I used to get really bad nightmares, maybe I can help." He paused, "I ditched you, in what context?"

"We were fighting against a mutant tidal wave and I was holding everyone back. It was just a dream, I overreacted." April signed into her noodles, the look of defeat made Leonardo want to hold her tightly.

"You know that I think you are pretty amazing even if you don't have your power anymore." Leonardo said, taking a bite of his dinner, unaware of how his comment made her flush with pride.

"I've just got to figure something out." She said and placed a dainty hand on Leonardo's arm, where she'd punched him. "Sorry I punched you."

"It's okay, I mean it wasn't as hard as Raph hits me sometimes." Leonardo said.

April pushed her hand away from him and stood up. "That right there, that's what I'm talking about." She said. "You think I'm weak."

"Whoa, calm down, April. That's not what I said." Leonardo said.

"It's true though, ever since I've lost my powers you guys have been trying to protect me in missions."

"I'm sorry that it seems that way to you but we are just trying to support you. I mean that's what a team is supposed to do."

"Yeah, and do teams leave team members out of important missions?" she asked. "I heard you guys. You don't think I can handle it. I'll prove you wrong. I'll investigate the school myself." She said, grabbing her order of Pizza Gyoza before leaving.

"That could have gone better." Leonardo said.

"April-chan's voice has more bite to it than usual." Murakami said. "Is she okay?"

"I hope so."


	4. Recruitment

Donatello leapt from one rooftop to another and came to a stop across the street from April's apartment, he noticed that the light in her bedroom was still on. Take a moment to think it over he decided to pay her a little visit. After her fight with Leonardo she decided to stay away from them for a while, and apparently to April a while meant two weeks, two days, and seven hours and thirty minutes. Not that Donatello was keeping track.

He jumped down to her balcony and stopped mid-knock when he saw her pacing in her room, a tablet in one hand and an energy drink in the other. In between sips she stopped to look over at a white board in the middle of her room. Donatello leaned in to get a closer looked, it was some sort of crime map with pictures of the missing students and how they were connected to various things.

Donatello also noticed the mountain of books on her bed, each one opened to a specific page but he couldn't read what was on those pages at the angle he was standing. He decided he'd had enough creeping and knocked.

Startled by the sound, April nearly dropped the tablet on the ground but managed to keep it balanced. Then she saw him at the window and waved him in. "It's unlocked." She said.

Donatello opened the window and stepped inside "Hey, what's going on? What's all this?" he asked gesturing to the bed of books.

"Just some homework, it's easier for me to work on everything all at once. Except I'm a little stuck on calculus." She said, "I could use your help on this problem if you have a moment."

"Calculus? Sure, let me see." He said, taking a step closer she turned her tablet toward him. "Wow, this computer is amazing."

"Focus, please." She said, not trying to be rude to the one guy who could save her life right now.

"Oh, right sorry." He looked the problem over, "Okay, there is a simple way to think about this problem. A little trick." He said.

"Really? Thank god, I was going to lose my mind over this." She said. "Could you show it to me?"

"No problem." He said taking a seat on the ground with her.

"April, remember when I used to help you with your homework at the lair?" he asked, he missed having her sit at his desk while he worked on something in his lab.

"Yeah, it was surprisingly relaxing to be with you guys, even with Mikey making a mess all the time." She smiled, and it melted Donatello's heart, it had been so long since he'd seen it.

"I want you to come back…. I mean, you can come back if you want." He said.

"Not until I find the missing students." She said. "They were from my school and it happened right under my nose, I should be helping people not letting them get kidnapped."

"April…" he sighed, he knew he couldn't convince her to come back, she was just so stubborn. So he decided to focus on what he could do. "Okay, show me the problem again." He

"See I can only figure it out up to this point." She pulled up her notes and showed him her twenty failed attempts to solve the problem. "This is the first one and these last three are the same type."

"You are on the right track, here's where the trick comes in." he picked up her notebook and a pencil and drew a few lines before showing it to her.

"Oh." April stifled a yawn. "I get it."

"Yeah, so see if you just carry this whole top portion of the problem to this side of the equation you get…" his instructions came to an abrupt stop when he felts something heavy against his shoulder. He looked down to see that April had fallen asleep against him, he blushed. This was nice. "Okay, April, I guess that's enough." He set the notebook down and carried her to the bed, clearing off some of the books before laying her down.

Donatello knelt down next to the bed and watched her sleep for a moment, she looked so frail and small, and he wanted to keep her safe no matter what. Love was hard sometimes, you want the person to be free but at the same time you want to lock them away so nothing bad will ever happen to them.

"I know you'll probably never love me back or even if there is a place for the sort of couple we would be; that doesn't matter because I will love you until the day I die." He resisted the urge to kiss her and instead turned to something more productive, April's leftover homework.

* * *

The next morning April woke to the aroma of caramel and hazelnut. Glancing toward the smell, she saw it, a latte from her favorite café sat carefully on her nightstand. Before she could wonder who it was from she saw the sticky note on the side of the cup.

_Good Morning,_

_Have a great day at school_

_-D_

April smiled and took a long sip of her latte, it was still hot which meant that Donatello had only just left. She wished she could see him and thank him for all his help but she'd just have to visit him after school.

Her tablet blared to life, her alarm going off to signal it was time to start the day. She found the tablet on top of a neatly stacked pile of books. When she lifted it up another note fluttered to the ground, she picked it up and read:

_Don't be upset but I finished the rest of your homework. As for calculus I left the formula to my little tick in the notes of your tablet. You can do it._ He ended this note with a drawing of his smiling face.

How could she be upset about that? It was really helpful and it wasn't as if the rest of her homework was hard, she knew most of it anyway.

April hurried to the subway with her latte in one hand and her tablet in the other, she had to submit some of the work via the online classroom. A half an hour trip through the city on the subway wasn't long when there was work to finish up and soon she was there, just outside Manhattan, Springhill Academy.

* * *

Back at the lab, Donatello hooked the power supply up to his computer, it had taken a week but he finally found a way to connect it. Studying with April helped relax his mind enough for a solution to come to him. He smiled at the thought of April's face when she found the latte and her finished homework.

Donatello was distracted from his thoughts when his computer screen flooded with information. "Fascinating." Donatello said.

Casey, who was in the lab welding together a new addition to his sports weapon arsenal, stopped welding and turned his attention to Donatello. "You figured it out?"

"Yeah, the fascinating thing is that it's putting out a weird magnetic energy." Donatello gave the power supply a little poke and it emitted a signal that Donatello couldn't hear.

"GAH, what is that?" Casey asked covering his ears. "It's the worst sound ever."

Donatello quickly poked the supply again and it stopped. "Sorry Casey, what did you hear?"

"You couldn't hear it?"

"No. Huh, strange." He said, "Maybe it's a sort of dog whistle but for humans."

"I hate alien tech." Casey said, suddenly his mind flooded with thoughts of April. "Something's off with April. I haven't seen her in days, how is she?"

"Not good, she's still working hard even without coming to training." He said, "In addition to a crazy amount of homework she's planning on finding the missing students. She already managed to steal a key. She's going to use it to sneak into the headmaster's office to look for clues."

"How do you know that?" Casey asked.

"I saw a whiteboard in April's room. On it was her plan." He said.

"It was?" Casey asked, "Well, what's the plan? If we can get there before she follows through on it and can solve the case. She'll have a reason to take it easy."

"I really don't think she wants help with this. She feels responsible because it happened on her watch." He said.

"Who cares, she's our friend and she doesn't know she's working too hard. This is an intervention."

Donatello thought it over for a moment, it WAS their responsibility as teammates to protect each other, even from themselves. "Okay, fine but we can't tell anyone else, if April finds out, she'll kill us."

* * *

This place is creepy." Casey said as the pair slipped through the school grounds undetected. "It's so quiet." Casey came to a stop just outside a classroom, he had to make sure there were even people there.

He looked through a window and was surprised to see students sitting perfectly tall in their seats, their eyes focused on their individual tablets. "Weird"

"How so? It looks like they are all engaged in the lesson." Donatello said.

"Hello, these are high schoolers we're talking about. No one is goofing off, staring at their crushes or using the tablet to text someone else."

Casey's ears perked up, he could hear a faint sound coming through the open window, it was that sound again. Where was it coming from? That's when it hit him. Each student had their headphones plugged into their tablets. "The dog whistle sound, I can hear it, it's being sent through the tablets."

"Why aren't they freaking out like you did?" Donatello asked.

"Beats me, they like studying, they obviously enjoy torture." Casey paused, "Stay here." Casey said and dug the power supply from his hoodie pocket. "I'll get April."

"Is that the power supply?" Donatello asked, "Why did you bring that?"

Casey retreated a hockey stick and pointed it in Donatello's direction. "Don't worry about it."

"Casey, what are you doing?" Donatello reached back for his Bo but before he could grab it Casey threw down a smoke bomb and vanished.

* * *

April hurried around a corner and stopped at her destination, she only had a few minutes before the lady who usually sat at the front desk came back. April slipped the key from her back pocket and unlocked the door to the headmaster's office.

As April opened the door a hand came up behind her and covered her mouth, April struggled and twisted her out of her captor's arms. She brought a hand up to slap the offender but paused when she recognized who it was.

"Casey? What are you doing here?" April asked, relief washing over her for not being discovered by the enemy.

"Something seriously messed up is happening here." He said. "So I came to rescue you?"

"Rescue me? I don't need rescuing."

"Come on, April. You and I both know that's not true?" Casey said. "You don't need to fool yourself anymore, the Turtles and I have this under control. Let us worry about saving the world."

April's eyes narrowed, was he serious? "Have you guys been going on missions without me?" April's worst fear had come true, they didn't need her.

"Listen Red, we just want to lessen your load, Donnie suggested that we lay off calling you in for missions so you could focus on getting your power back."

"Donnie did?" April held her fists at her sides, he anger had never been this bad, though lately she felt helpless and edgy. "That jerk."

"Whoa, hey, the guys just want to keep you safe. You don't have to fight when you have them."

"Are you serious? What the heck Casey?"

"Come on, April, you know you can't do this by yourself. Without us you're just a girl."

"Stop!" April could feel her throat constricting, she knew they felt that way but to hear it out loud. It was too much. April took off running down the hall and sought refuge in a teacher's office.

A sinister voice ran through Casey's mind, "Very good, Casey, now that you've planted the seeds of doubt you may go, leave the power fragment and forget what you've seen here."

* * *

"April O'Neal, what brings you here, child?" Evixus stood up from their desk and stood in front of her. "You poor lonely child. All of your friends are deserting you."

"How do you know that?" she asked but then she knew. Evixus was the head of the Psychic Program and a powerful psychic himself.

"While that may be true." they said, reading her mind. "But I don't need my power to know that you are just a normal teenage girl, lost, abandoned and hopeless." He said. "What my powers do tell me is that the only thing your friendships were built on were your special abilities." Evixus placed their hands on April's shoulders.

April shuttered as pain ran through her, she was a failure and a fool for believing that her friendships were special to anyone but her. "Stop. That can't be true."

"You don't believe me?" Evixus said. "Perhaps I should show you."

The world around April turned black, she was standing alone in an endless void of darkness, until the turtles appeared around her. "Guys, you're here."

"Look at the weakling, she'll never be strong enough to help anyone." Raphael said.

"It's too bad your power is gone, that was the best thing about you.' Michelangelo said.

"A team is only as strong as its weakest link, we should cut you out before you drag us all down. I could never call someone like you, sister." Leonardo said.

April was on the brink of tears when it was Donatello's turn, she had to believe that he was on her side. She quickly found out that she was wrong when he spoke.

"You were my best test subject, now that your power is gone, there's no reason for me hang around with you." He smirked, "The fact that you think anyone could ever love you might be worth studying though."

"Stop!" April fell to her knees, sobbing, the world returning to normal. Having her suspicions and fears splayed out struck her right in the heart.

"Come now, child, I can return your dormant power, you are strong enough without your so-called friends. You don't have to live like this anymore."

"Y-You can give me my power back?" April looked up wiping her eyes with the back of her hand.

"Yes, but I need something from you in exchange."

"I'll do anything."

"Good." Evixus lifted a hand and placed one finger to April's forehead. April could feel her body warm up, her power prickling back to life. It was amazing and it felt like home.

"What do you need?" she asked.

"Not what but who." Evixus said, "Bring Donatello to me."


	5. Betrayal

Casey stumbled out of the school, his head felt like it was stuffed with cotton that was drenched in lighter fluid and set on fire. He couldn't make sense of the fact that he was missing a chunk of his memory. The last thing he could recall was being with Donatello, watching the students through an open window.

Casey made his way around the outside of the building and spotted Donatello on the roof, seemingly ready to sneak in. Casey didn't want to risk blowing Donatello's cover so he dropped a plastic practice golf ball on the ground and pulled the newest weapon from his quiver. A golf club. Turned out golf wasn't as boring as he'd once thought. He took aim and swung, the plastic ball few true and strong and reached its target, pegging Donatello in the head.

Donatello stifled his scream and rubbed his head, looking in the direction the ball had come. He spotted Casey and jumped and flipped his way over to him. "Casey, there you are. You want to tell me what's going on?"

"What are you talking about?" he said.

"You brought the Power Supply here and ditched me to find April, you threatened me." he said. "And, oh yeah, you just hit me in the head with a golf ball!" he screamed the last bit.

"It was a practice ball." He corrected. "And I don't know what you are talking about. The last thing I remember is looking at the students through the window."

"Are you telling me you don't remember running off with the Power Supply?" Casey stared at him with a look that said, I dare you to ask me one more time. "Look, it doesn't matter, just tell me you still have it."

"I don't remember taking it so how could I know if I have it?" he asked. Donatello rolled his eyes and grabbed at Casey's hoodie pocket. "Hey! Buy me dinner first."

"Quit messing around," Donatello moved away from Casey when he found that his pocket was empty.

"I'm not, dude." Casey said. "Seriously, I have no idea what's going on and it's really freaking me out."

"Okay, this is bad. Let's think about this calmly and rationally, everything has an answer." Donatello tapped his finger to his cheek.

"Uh, D. I don't think we have time for that. Campus security is coming this way." Casey said and pointed to a couple of security guards.

"Right. Let's go."

* * *

When the duo returned to the lair they were surprised to see Leonardo pacing in the common room. "What's going on?" Casey asked, "You look more stressed than usual."

"What's going on is that there have been two more disappearances from April's school." He said, "I'm waiting until nightfall to send out a team to investigate."

"What? How? We were just there." Donatello said.

"I'm sorry, what?" Leonardo looked at them. "Correct me if I'm wrong and please do, you went out in the middle of the day to a school filled with people?"

"Yes." Donatello said, unable to lie to his brother.

"What if you had been seen, we don't know what we are dealing with yet, what if you tipped off this new enemy? That decision was too risky."

"Normally I would agree but this is April we're talking about. Casey and I couldn't just stand by and watch her work herself to death. We wanted to solve the case before she did." He said, "We weren't seen…"

"But?" Leonardo said.

"But we lost the Power Supply."

"You lost it? What do you mean you lost it? Why did you even bring it with you?" he asked.

"That was my bad." Casey said, "Even though I don't remember."

"What does that mean?" Leonardo could feel a migraine forming and it was going to be a big one.

"I have a theory." Donatello said. "But I need to test it first. I'm sorry I can't give you more than that. It won't take long." He said, retiring to his lab before Leonardo could ask any more questions he didn't have the answers to.

Casey swallowed hard when he noticed he was alone with Leonardo, "So… any chance that since this was a total accident I can get out of the lecture you're about to give me?"

"Not a chance."

"I didn't think so."

* * *

A couple of hours later Donatello, wearing a grim look, stuck his head out from his lab. "Guys, this is bad. Come here." Donatello said.

Leonardo and Casey went into the lab and saw Donatello at his computer, they gathered around him and he spoke, "My theory was right but it was only the tip of the iceberg. See the Power Supply, or Power Fragment is neither of those things as we think of them."

"You're not making any sense." Leonardo said, keeping his frustration in check.

"Stay with me, it's not a supply of power so much as it is an amplifier of power, but it's also a storage device for something very nasty. Getting it to work only requires thought." You see when I touched it earlier I was thinking about it working and then it emitted a sound only humans can hear." He said, taking a moment to see if Leonardo was catching on, he was.

"So this thing operates on the power of the mind?" Leonardo clarified, which reduced the confused look on Casey's face.

"Exactly." Donatello said. "It was just dumb luck, bad luck in our case, that Casey was in my lab at the time." Donatello pointed to his computer screen to reveal the music player program, "I managed to record the sound Casey heard." He said. "I had to lower the volume and change the frequency so that the two of us can hear it." He said to Leonardo then pressed play.

" _Serve your new master, bring me the Power Fragment. Serve your new master, bring it to Springhill academy. Serve me. Serve me. Serve me."_

"So Basically Casey was brainwashed in to bringing the Fragment to the school." Leonardo asked

"What? But how can that work when I only heard it for two seconds?" Casey seemed offended, how could something like that get to him so easily?

"That's the rest of the iceberg." Donatello said. "It's that powerful. I can influence people who only need a nudge, you missed hanging around April and in the back of your mind you wanted to see her. This frequency latched onto that and the Power Fragment hitched a ride, so to speak, to the enemy."

"Yes, it makes sense now, I'm the one who wanted to go out and find April this morning, and I remember that feeling coming out of nowhere." He said.

"It's my fault, too, I wasn't under the influence of the frequency and I went along with you."

"I would have gone without you." Casey said. "It's completely my fault."

"Okay, I'd hate to break up this bonding thing you have going on, but it sounds to me like the ones behind this could use the Power Fragment to control more people. You said it was an amplifier."

"That's right, I don't know the range but even a one mile radius is too many people, especially in New York." Donatello said. "We'll have to go to the school and get it back."

It was at that moment that Michelangelo and Raphael entered the lab, having just returned from studying the scene of the new disappearances.

"How'd it go?" Leonardo asked.

"It was really creepy, got bad vibes from it." Michelangelo said ominously.

"The trail was cold when we got there." Raphael said. "There were no signs of a struggle, like these two girls willingly vanished." Raphael said.

"Wait a minute. That makes sense now, why didn't I think of it before?" Donatello spoke suddenly.

"Want to fill us in, Donnie?" Raphael said. He hated it when Donnie got like this. It wasn't helpful and it was annoying.

"Maybe the students aren't being kidnapped, but are being persuaded to leave." He said. "Casey and I heard a similar frequency to the one used on Casey while we were at the school, it was coming from the students' headphones."

"Oh, yeah," Casey said, "What if they are being brainwashed like I was?"

"Brainwashed?" Raphael was even more annoyed that before, being out of the loop was so constraining, he clenched his fists in frustration.

"Long story." Leonardo said and shuttered from the angry aura seeping from his brother, "Which I'll tell."

* * *

April sprang down from a tunnel, happy that Raphael and Michelangelo hadn't seen her as they past. She waited until she could no longer sense them to risk moving because the Turtles were so in tune with the tunnels that the slightest out-of-place splash would have them on her in seconds.

April carefully made her way to the lair, adjusting her backpack, the weight of which encumbered her in more ways than one. She held the straps of her bag tightly just in case because if she happened to be spotted my Michelangelo he'd snatch it up, thinking it was filled with cool new human snacks. Which was usually the case. This time, however, April had to avoid that at all costs or her plan would be over before it started.

When April was at the entrance of the lair she tapped into her power to make sure it was clear. She could feel that the Turtles and Casey were in Donatello's lab, while her target, Splinter was in the dojo, meditating. Perfect.

April quietly hurried to the dojo and was sad for a moment, she loved the smell of the dojo, and most people would think it smelled like a gym but it didn't. It was a mix of incense and fresh earth, due to the magnificent tree in the room. It was April's favorite place in the whole city, and soon she'd have to say good-bye to it forever.

April placed her heavy bag down on the ground and Splinter opened his eyes at the disturbance. "Hello, Sensei." She said.

* * *

"Donatello, may I see you a moment?" Splinter voice came through the room and Donatello excused himself from the meeting Leonardo was having. He'd catch up on the plan later.

As he headed for the dojo he felt something prickle at his senses, something wasn't right. He picked up the pace and by the time he'd reached the dojo his Bo was in his hands. Though he wasn't ready for what he'd found inside.

Splinter was on his knees in the center of the dojo, his arms bound behind his back and his head bowed in shame. But that wasn't what had Donatello on edge, the first thing he noticed was the belt of C4 wrapped around Splinters torso. He resisted his impulse touch the bomb because he needed all of the facts first, the wrong move could spell disaster.

His eyes then fell on the discarded backpack on the ground, a familiar button caught his eye, and on it was a picture of a cat with a word bubble that had the mathematical symbol for mu: µ, which was funny because it was pronounced mew. He'd given it to April because she thought it was funny, the first time she'd seen it.

"April?" Donatello asked. "What's going on?"

She jumped from the tree and stood between Donatello and Splinter, her tessen out in front of her in a stance Donatello had never seen before. "Who did this?" he asked.

"See that's the problem you don't even think that I am capable of something like this." April said she leapt at Donatello, still trying to process what she had said, giving her enough time to disarm him. He quickly regained his composure and jumped away from her.

"April, it's not that I don't think you are capable of this, or rather that you don't have the ability, it's that you would never do something like this." He said. "We're friends, let's talk about this."

"Friends? Don't insult me." She said.

"Insult you? Are we not friends?" He asked, his eyes slid to his Bo, a few more steps and he could grab it, if he could stun her enough to knock her out he could stop her before things got worse.

"You think I don't know what you are thinking?" She used her power to lift the Bo and snap it in half. The look on his face was priceless. "That's right, I have my power back and because of all my extra training I'm much more powerful."

"April, did you come here to prove a point? You didn't need to strap a bomb to Splinter to do that." He said loudly, effectively calling his brothers into the fray.

Leonardo was the first one to enter the room, weapons drawn, followed by Raphael, Michelangelo and then Casey. "April?" Leonardo asked.

"Drop your weapons." She ordered. "You have five seconds."

"You can't take us all on at once, what if we refuse?" Raphael asked, pointing his Sai at her.

"Hmm, maybe I can't take you all on at once but that's why I have insurance, take a look at Splinter." She said, standing aside so they could get a good view of him. "I'll blow us all up if you don't."

"Drop your weapons, my sons." Splinter said calmly. "I can sense that she means what she is saying." The Turtles and Casey complied, reluctantly tossing their weapons to the ground next to Donatello's broken Bo.

"What do you want, April?" Leonardo asked with the most venom she'd ever heard come from him before.

"Donatello" April said, "I'm taking him. And don't you dare try to stop me." She warmed and pulled a switch from her pocket.

"Is that a…" Casey started.

"A Dead Man's switch." Michelangelo added, yeah he'd seen a few in his comics.

"That's right." April said, "If any of you move before I'm clear I'll drop this and New York will have a serious traffic problem."

"Okay, April, look, why don't you just calm down. I don't know what's going on with you lately or what has you this desperate, but whatever it is we can help you." Leonardo said.

"I don't need your help. I don't need anyone's help." She spat. April crossed the room and, careful not to lose the pressure on the switch, pressed her tessen against Donatello's back. "Move, Donnie. Let's go." She said urging him toward the exit. "Don't try to follow me either, the range on this switch is ten miles."

"We all know you wouldn't really kill our Sensei, YOUR Sensei." Raphael said, taking a step closer, he wasn't going to let anyone take his brother not even April. Leonardo stopped Raphael's advances with and outstretched arm, which earned Leonardo a heated glare.

"Stop it Raph, there's something bigger going on here so we can't take that risk." Leonardo said, "If she is desperate enough to strap bombs to our Sensei then we have to let her go." Leonardo said.

"Listen to your leader, Raph." April said, knowing just what button to push. Raphael growled low in his throat, she never thought she'd be on the receiving end of that sound. It didn't make her sad though, it made her feel good, powerful, like she was a threat.

"April, I am giving you one more chance to change your mind. We'll chalk this up to a misunderstanding. We'll all go to the common room and have a nice talk and work it out." He said, his voice was calm but when Leonardo spoke like this it was the calm before the storm.

"But if you walk out that door," he continued, "you become our enemy and we won't rest until we find you. We'll do nothing but look for you and when we find you, and I can promise you, we will, you'll get no mercy."

April met Leonardo's gaze straight on, her strength never wavering and accepted his terms by shoving Donatello through the threshold of the dojo.


	6. Pursuit

"Um, so, April, where are we going?" Donatello asked, they'd been walking for some time, all the while winding and twisting through the sewer system. They were so tangled in the maze of tunnels that Donatello wasn't sure he could find his way back, even if he were able to do so.

April poked her folded tessen at his shell to urge him to keep walking. "I'm amazed that you know your way through here so well." He said. "And the way you read my mind back at the dojo, pretty cool stuff." He paused, "Well not really cool, per se, I mean you did strap a bomb to my father. But…"

"Stop talking." She said. "We're here." She said then nudged him a few more steps until he could see a ladder leading up to an exit. "Up there." She said.

"Wait." He said. "I've gone on with this long enough and my brothers won't find us this deep in the tunnels so turn off the switch." He said. "Or I'm not taking another step." He knew this was a gamble but he had to hope that April's heart was still there. She'd never kill Splinter.

"Not until we are out of the city." She said. "Don't worry, it won't be long."

"April…"

"Don't say my name like that. Like I'm some scared little girl who needs rescuing." She said. "Now, get up there or I will drop the switch." She ordered and for emphasis shoved him hard into the ladder. He let out a sigh and started climbing. Reaching the top, he lifted the manhole cover only to find himself in an abandoned auto shop. He didn't recognize where he was or see anything that could help him escape.

Donatello pulled himself up and out of the sewer then watched April, she looked up at him, tessen in her mouth, climbing with one arm. She kept and even pressure on the switch and the fact that she was so careful with the switch expressed that she didn't want to kill the others.

Donatello extended a hand to April but she looked at him like he was crazy, she had no free hands to offer him. He reached down and grabbed her by the elbow, scooping her up out of the sewer. "This place is nice, I've been in a few prisons, and this one isn't too bad." He said.

"We're not staying here." April crossed the room and stopped in front of a huge tarp, giving it a tug, it fell away to reveal an unmarked van. She then opened the driver's side door and gestured for Donatello to get in.

"You're letting me drive? Are you serious?" he asked.

"I need to make sure you don't try anything and I can't focus on you If I'm driving." She fanned out her tessen in a threatening manner and tilted her hips toward him, reach in my back pocket." He blushed, was she serious? "Relax, I have zip ties in there, again I have no free hands. Get them and tie your hands to the wheel."

Once Donatello was secure, April got into the passenger's seat and deactivated the switch. Donatello was shocked, they weren't out of the city yet, so why? Was she finally coming around?

"Don't read too much into this, I'm just tired of focusing on the switch and we are far enough away that your brothers couldn't possibly catch up." She said then reached over and started the van. "Let's go."

"Go where? A destination would be helpful."

"Yeah, I'm sure it would, I'll let you know as we go, I'm not giving you a chance to think up a plan." She paused, "By the way, your T-phone, where is it?" she asked. "I can't have your brothers tracking us."

"Side pocket." He said, "Where it always is." April nodded and grabbed for it and noticed an unsent text message addressed to her. She read it.

_How'd calculus go? Not that I'm worried or anything… I believe in you. You got this._

April erased the message and tossed the phone in front of one of the wheels. "Drive." Donatello took a breath and pulled the car forward crushing his phone in the process. "Turn left and stay on that road." She said.

When Donatello exited the auto shop he was discouraged to learn that he'd never seen this part of New York before, he'd have to rely on his fail-safe. "April, you don't have to do this." He said.

"You don't know what I have to do or why I have to do it." She said.

"Why are you doing this? I know you've been going through some things but you never tried talking to any of us about it."

"Because I'm fine." She said. "And now that I have my powers back, I'm perfect."

"Incidentally, how did you get them back?"

"I don't want to talk about this anymore." April said as she curled her hands into tight fists in her lap.

The conversation dropped there and April stared out at the city she loved so much, would it look the same when she returned? Probably not, the ties she was severing now could never be put back together. The city could only become a place of hollow emptiness.

After a few miles they crossed the city limits and as they kept driving the street lamps became trees. There wasn't a car for miles and so April let herself sink in her seat, the sound of Donatello's gentle breathing was making her sleepy.

Suddenly a familiar honk cut through April's feeling of comfort. April jerked up in her seat and looked at the passenger's side window. As she feared the honk had belonged to the Shellraiser. It was coming at them. And fast.

"How did they catch up to us?" April gasped and looked at Donatello. "What did you do? How did you contact them? I was watching you the whole time."

"That wasn't my doing." he paused, "Although, I might've forgotten to mention that I upgraded the T-phones, they now emit an emergency signal to the other T-phones when destroyed. The idea came to me when I realized that sometimes our phones are too damaged to be useful, it's a fail-safe."

The Shellraiser let out another signature honk and gained more speed. April looked in the mirror again, was Leonardo crazy? Was he willing to ram into them doing eighty while they themselves were only going forty-five?

Though if they were to crash, Donatello would probably survive, his mutant strength being what it was. April came to the realization that Leonardo didn't care if she lived through a high-speed accident. The Shellraiser pulled up alongside the van, Leonardo's cold stare bore into April and she trembled in spite of herself.

Leonardo made a couple of hand gestures that signified they should pull over or he'd go on the offensive. April opened the glove box and pulled out a small handgun and rolled down the window before firing at Leonardo. Leonardo hit the breaks to avoid the bullets so the Shellraiser fell behind significantly.

"Faster! Donnie!" April said.

"Or what? You have no leverage now." He said. "And if they hit us you won't survive the crash. We should surrender."

"I'm not going to surrender." She said, "You think I didn't plan for something like this?" April got out of her seat and hurried to the back of the van. "Okay Overkill, here's your chance for revenge."

"Overkill? The robot with the rocket launcher from the chemical plant?" After taking a moment to let that sink in he said, "You're working with them, April?"

"Shut up and go faster or I'll unleash him on your brothers. And after its fight with Michelangelo it's been hungry for revenge, I'd imagine he'll start by filling your baby brother with holes."

Donatello gritted his teeth, finally coming to a decision, the April he knew was too far gone to be saved. On top of that NO ONE threatened Michelangelo.

He saw April's tessen on the ground fanned open, sharp and deadly, it must've fallen there when she was startled by the appearance of the Shellraiser. He quickly formulized a plan in his head, if he timed it right it he could free himself and avoid killing April in the process.

"I'm sorry it has to end this way, April." Donatello said, and floored the accelerator, "you really shouldn't have left your seat."

"What are you talking about?" She tried to read his mind but it was going a million miles an hour, she then looked into his eyes and was shocked to see the sad expression on his face.

"I don't want to do this, April, but you've given me no choice." Donatello jerked the wheel hard to the left. April screamed and for an instant was suspended in the air by the centripetal force, apparently Donatello was willing to kill her too. She quickly activated Overkill before accepting her fate.

The van flipped once, twice, a third time and as it did the tessen hit each intended spot of the interior. Donatello's calculations were spot on and suddenly the tessen was heading straight for its intended mark.

Donatello arched his face away from the windshield and held his hands very still, the tessen cut through both zip ties, severing them at the closure, missing his skin by a hairs width.

When the glass of the windshield rained down around him he opted for grabbing April instead of shielding his eyes. He reached back and grabbed April's unconscious body, pulling her against him and curling up as best he could, knowing that his shell would protect them both.

They were thrown from the car and landed in the grass, the van was still sliding away but stopped when it hit a tree. Donatello unraveled his body from April's, her head was resting on his plastron now. He could feel her breathing, which was good, but she was covered in cuts and her skin sparkled with glass.

He mustered up enough strength to wrap his arms around her, he closed his eyes as her wonderful smell filled his senses. He opened his eyes again and looked up at the night sky. Why couldn't he be holding her, here underneath a million stars, as they proclaimed their love for each other? Why did it have to be this way?

Then darkness swallowed him.

* * *

At the same time, unprepared for the sudden and spectacular stop of the van the Shellraiser drove for a few more feet before pulling a U-turn. Then something massive landed on the hood. The vehicle let out a cry of pain when the weight of the intruder caused it stop.

"Revenge." Said Overkill.

Leonardo looked up just in time to see the roof of the van being ripped open like a sardine can. Overkill tossed the roof of the Shellraiser into the night and reached a giant arm inside before grabbing Michelangelo by the face. Overkill pulled Michelangelo out of the Shellraiser and watched as the orange clad turtle struggled for freedom and air.

"MIKEY!" Raphael cried, pulling his Sai and stabbing them into Overkills leg, this act enabled Raphael follow as the robot flew away with his little brother. Raphael jumped away just as Overkill landed and faced him, twirling his Sai in anticipation.

Michelangelo was screaming incoherently, presumably about the fact that his face was the first thing enemies tended to grab. Raphael wasn't too worried, that is until Michelangelo's body went limp. Anger, raw and acidic, ran through his veins, it manifested itself in a low menacing snarl.

"Put my brother down, you bastard!" Raphael ran for Overkill and the robot lifted its free arm to reveal, what looked to Raphael to be, a revolving gun. But when the bullets started to fly he cursed himself for being right. Dodging the bullets, some with ease, some with the twirling of his Sai, Raphael advanced.

Overkill ran out of bullets and switched to something else, its back flipped open and out folded a rocket launcher, Raphael was too close to evade it. Michelangelo's body swung around like a soggy noodle. "This is it, I'm sorry little bro." Raphael whispered and closed his eyes, at least he'd get to see the little twerp in the next life.

Just as Overkill was about to release the rocket, a battle cry rang through the night air. Leonardo flipped and jumped through the air with grace and speed, bringing his katana down to slice Overkill through the eye sensor.

Leonardo jumped up onto Overkill's shoulders and began stabbing him over and over through the head. Sparks and metal parts flew while oil rained down like blood. It covered Leonardo's face, the hatred in his eyes was savage. Raphael had to wonder if he himself looked like that when he was on one of his tirades.

His normally cool and kept together brother was now feral and dangerous. The frustration of the past few hours must've gotten the better of him. For the first time Raphael began to wonder if Leonardo was more aggressive than himself.

Raphael tore his gaze away from Leonardo for a moment when Michelangelo's body was flung from Overkill's unresponsive arm. Raphael caught his little brother with ease and held him in a tight hug before returning his attention to Leonardo.

Leonardo screamed, Overkill was now a pile of metal and grease, yet Leonardo kept stabbing, over and over. One for his brother, Stab. One for Donatello, Stab. For his father and sensei, Stab. Stab. For April. Stab. Stab. Stab. Stab.

Raphael set Michelangelo on the ground and grabbed Leonardo around the stomach and hugged him tightly. "Hey, Bro, Chill. It's over." Raphael said, "It's okay." Leonardo struggled for a moment before pausing, his breathing was ragged and shallow against Raphael's plastron. "Let's get Donnie." Leonardo nodded and Raphael released him and picked up Michelangelo again.

Leonardo and Raphael made their way over to the flaming van, they had to believe that Donatello was alright. They followed the tail of carnage until they found a patch of grass that was covered in blood, it was obvious that Donatello had landed there but there was no sign of either Donatello or April.

"Where did they go?" Leonardo asked and exasperatedly hurried for the Shellraiser, the fact that it was a convertible now only made it easier for him to spot Donatello and April.

"Leo! Wait!" Raphael's frantic voice cut through to his heart and he knew he wasn't ready to hear what Raphael was about to say. "Mickey stopped breathing."


	7. Vigilante

The lair was unusually quiet. The television in the common area sat alone and unused, its screen reflecting the real world, which was something it wasn't used to displaying. This particular reflection held a vision of Raphael as he sat on the couch with his head in his hands. And if the television could reflect more it would've shown the memories of Michelangelo that danced around him.

Like the time seven-year-old Michelangelo told Raphael that he was his hero:

" _Raphie." Michelangelo said, running into the common room, "I'm gonna be strong just like my hero." Michelangelo smiled proudly then handed Raphael a piece of paper with a hand drawing of a red stick figure turtle, above the turtle were the words "my hero" the **r** was backwards but in the right place._

The time when Michelangelo was allowed to train for the first time.

" _Check it out, Raph." Michelangelo was in the training room holding a single five-pound weight in two hands. Grinning triumphantly he said, "Look at these guns."_

The first time Michelangelo talked him out of one of his lonely moods.

" _Hey, Raph… don't be sad? I love being a turtle." Michelangelo smiled, "Someday everyone will see how much we do for this city and then they'll see that you are the best big brother in the whole world." he paused. "Don't tell Leo or Donnie I said that." He giggled._

And the first time Michelangelo saved his life.

" _Raph! Watch out!" Michelangelo shoved his big brother out of the way of an attack, "That was a close one." He smiled giving the thumbs up before running back into the fight._

Raphael felt the cold sheath of sorrow wrap around him, it pulled from his pleasant memories and threatened to suffocate him. Raphael took a deep shuttering breath and the sorrow gave way to guilt. He felt as though he didn't deserve to breathe. That he didn't deserve to feel happiness ever again.

"Raphael?" Raphael lifted his head, he didn't need to look up to know it was Leonardo but he met his brother's concern fill eyes nonetheless. "It's gonna be…" Okay? Would it? Leonardo couldn't promise that and so he stopped speaking.

"I was right there, he was so close… I could've…. I should've been able to…so why?" And in a rare moment of weakness Raphael wrapped his arms around Leonardo's waist, dragging him closer so he could rest his forehead against the lower portion of his plastron. Leonardo paused a moment and in turn placed his hands on top of Raphael's head, teasing the ties of his mask with his fingers in an act of comfort.

Leonardo looked away in an attempt to give his brother a semblance of privacy opting instead to stare at the hall leading to their bedrooms. He wondered how it was that, in the past thirty-six hours, things had gotten so terribly out of hand.

Raphael's harsh breathing, Michelangelo's unresponsive body, Donatello's broken heart, Splinter's disappointment, and April's betrayal. They all swirled around Leonardo, curling tighter and tighter, threatening to squeeze the life from his body. He couldn't see, it was dark, cold, lonely and empty. Oh, god what would he do now? How could he fix this?

Splinter, seeing the state of his two remaining sons crossed the room and placed a warm hand on Leonardo's shoulder bringing him back to the light. Raphael remained still as Splinter spoke to Leonardo, "You must have faith my son."

"Faith?!" Leonardo burst, he'd been holding this pain in for hours and couldn't stop himself from raising his voice at his beloved father. Raphael responded to the outburst by pulling Leonardo closer. Leonardo continued, "Mikey's in a coma. I performed CPR and managed to get him breathing again but he's not waking up. Why isn't he waking up?" Leonardo asked.

"Oh, my son…" Splinter said, it was easy to forget that his sons were adolescence who were forced to grow up way too quickly.

"Leonardo, you gave him new breath." Splinter said. "And Raphael your quick thinking brought him home. The two of you gave him another chance at life." Splinter paused, "I tell you to have faith because we all know that Michelangelo has always been tough. I know that he will find his way back to us."

* * *

Casey made his way through the empty streets, he'd taken this path so many times that he knew the way even without looking. This time, however, something felt wrong about going to April's apartment. Was it the guilt he felt for ignoring the signs that told him April was heading down a dangerous road?

Possibly, after all, he'd elected to ignore the signs because, selfishly, he wanted to believe that the woman he loved had it all together. Did he even have a right to visit her home, to call her a friend, to have a crush on her when he'd straight up ignored her pain?

Maybe not but glancing up at April's once vibrant bedroom gave him the motivation he needed to push away his doubt. He would bring back the color, life and beauty to this apartment. He would make things right.

Casey made his way up the fire escape and opened the window, April's scent enveloped him and he was reminded of the many times the two of them studied together. Well, April would studied, he would think of ways he could score a kiss.

"Focus, Casey." He said and crossed the room, he'd come here for clues and Donatello had mentioned a whiteboard. Casey scanned the dark room and spotted it across the room. "There you are." Making his way over to the whiteboard and grabbed the edge to turn it toward him, he sighed, whatever April had written there had been erased.

"Figures." Before he could wonder what to do an idea struck him. Digging in his pocket he found his phone and shined its light along the edge of the board. Yes! He could see the lines of what had previously been there. Following along as best he could he saw two sets of words and they were the only clues he needed. The words were: "Secret Door" and "Headmaster's Office."

* * *

Wandering through a school late at night was already creepy, nothing said terrible slasher film like a lone teen in an empty school. Springhill Academy took the creep factor to a whole new level, mostly because whatever was happening at this school could very well be the horror ending he was expecting.

Casey couldn't lose his nerve now, he was the one who'd handed the Power Fragment to the bad guy. His ultimate goal was to clean up his mess. First by getting the Fragment back then by saving April.

Still he wished he wasn't alone and that he'd told someone what he was doing. If he died here no one would ever find his body. Spurred on by that thought, Casey quickened his pace.

The headmaster's office wasn't hard to find and soon it loomed in the distance, thought Casey was more than apprehensive about going straight for the door. He didn't know why but something told him that he wouldn't want to find out what was in that secret room.

"Come on, this is your fault and you have to make it right. You have a plan. Just go in there, find that secret room and get the Power Fragment. Easy Peasy." Swallowing against the fear in his throat, the hockey clad teen hurried for the door. He grabbed for the handle and growled when he found that it was locked. Of course it was locked.

The teen stared at the keyhole as if looking at it would scare it into unlocking. Then something flashed though his mind, it felt like a memory yet he didn't recall what he was being shown. A vision of April as she hurried away from the front desk with a key, then used that key to open headmaster's door.

He didn't know why but he chose to not to question it and accept the vision as truth. Casey retrieved the key and opened the door. He was slightly disappointed by how plain the room was, I mean sure it was a pretty sweet office but not what he was expecting.

"Now to find that secret room." Casey surveyed the room for anything out of the ordinary. When nothing in particular caught his eye he decided to get a better look, pausing only when a light flooded the room.

"Busted." Casey said while turning around. He saw the headmaster standing in the doorway, looking back at him through empty eyes. "Okay, the creepiness factor just went up by ten."

"Student." The headmaster said. "What are you doing in here?" the headmaster slowly made his way forward. "Only, naughty students get sent to the office." He said.

"Lucky me, I don't even go to this school." Casey said.

"Unenrolled students must be destroyed." The headmaster said before pulling a laser gun on the sports loving teen.

"Uh, in that case, is it too late to enroll?" Casey asked while jumping out of the way when the headmaster fired at him. Casey rolled behind the headmaster's desk and began searching the drawers for anything that would help him. Opening the bottom draw he smiled down at a small collection of cherry bombs, mostly because it was ridiculous, what was this, the 60's? Still, not one to look a gift bomb in the fuse, he scooped them up.

Unfortunately, Casey was too late and found that the headmaster made his way around the desk. The headmaster then kicked Casey so hard it lifted him off of the ground, sending the boy crashing, into a nearby book case. Several books fell to the ground leaving one book to stand alone on the shelf. It was as if it were glued in place and Casey smiled. The secret room! Of course. "Classic." He muttered.

Casey hurried to pull himself off of the ground but there was no way he could escape. The headmaster lifted his gun and took aim. Casey closed his eyes and waited for death. The laser zipped pasted his head and Casey could smell the smoke wafting from the wall behind him. Taking a chance Casey opened his eyes but was unprepared for what he saw.

His attacker was staring at him but this time his eyes were drenched with the look of sadness. It was as if the headmaster didn't want to attack Casey. Like he wasn't in control. "Hey, fight it, man. That's it." Casey took a tentative step toward the headmaster but stopped when the headmaster lifted the gun to his own temple.

"No! Don't!" Casey reached out a hand and tried to propel himself forward but he was too slow. The brainwashed human pulled the trigger and dropped to the ground in a lifeless heap. "NO!"

Casey had never seen death this close before, never been close enough to feel the final breath leave a body, it was horrifying and he wanted to puke, or faint, or poor acid on his skin to experience anything other than what he was currently feeling.

Casey was fraught with nausea but he had to keep it together, the headmaster managed to fight long enough to save his life. And Casey couldn't let his sacrifice be for nothing. He hurried to the bookcase and pulled the lone book forward casing the bookshelf to peel away from the wall.

He found himself staring down a long hallway with a violet light coming from a door at the end. The teen hurried toward the door and notice a slight hum coming from the room, he crossed the threshold and the first thing he saw was a human-sized glass chamber.

Casey glanced inside the chamber and saw a sleeping face he recognized as the first student to go missing. Her naked body was wrapped up in wires, two of which were plugged directly into her temples. Casey followed the wires with his eyes and found that they ran from the girl's temples to the top of the chamber where they exited.

Continuing to follow them he found that they lead to a glass cylinder in the center of the room. Then he saw it. The Power Fragment. It floated in the center of the tube all the while emitting a purple hue as it transmitted? Or did it receive? Information? Casey wasn't sure. He did know though, that whatever it was doing wasn't good.

Casey continued his scan of the secret room and found that the Power Fragment was sucking power from seven more chambers. All of the missing students were here. Weather they were dead or alive, he had no clue.

Casey finished his exploration when he came to two more tubes on the opposite end of the room. These chambers were different in that they weren't connected to the Power Fragment. They weren't connected to anything… yet. He looked above the unused chambers and saw a name plate on each. One plate read: "Amplifier" and the other: "Host."

He didn't know what the empty chambers were about but he knew he had to free the students. Casey pulled up his trusty hockey stick, pulled a puck from his pocket and dropped it on the ground. He'd simply destroy the power fragment, problem solved.

Casey wheeled back to take his shot and just as his stick was about to make contact the puck levitated away from him. Casey, propelled by the momentum of his missed shot whirled around and fell against one of the chambers "What the?" he pushed away from the glass and watched as the puck hovered in the air next to him.

"We meet again, Casey Jones." Casey turned around to face the owner of the voice. A mysterious man dressed in a black suits stood before him. Something about the man looked a little too average to be real, almost as if he were trying too hard to blend in.

"Again? I've never seen you before in my life." Casey spat.

"Oh, but you have." The man said. "Thank you for your help with April, by the way, feeding into her doubt the way you did."

"What are you talking about?" Casey cringed at the mention of his crush's name.

"Oh, that's right, we erased your memory. Here allow us." The man snapped his fingers. "For your excellent service we grant you the power to see what was once forgotten."

Casey's head snapped up as the memory projected in his mind's eye. It made sense now, the memory he had of April with the key. Then the saw the rest of the memory. He was horrified at the things he'd said to April and he couldn't breathe.

His body flushed over with panic at the revelation that he'd pushed April over the edge. That it was his fault April had lost it. He'd done irreparable harm to the woman he loved. Glaring at the man, Casey said. "No! That wasn't me. You did something to me. Who the hell ae you?"

"We are called Evixus."

"Evixus? That's a stupid name, kind of like you spent hours with an alien name generator only to give up and stab at random keys on the keyboard until it looked cool.

"Do not insult us, boy." Evixus said. "Our name is unimportant."

"Why do you keep talking like that? Our and us, we? You sound like an idiot because by my count I only see one of you."

"We are comprised of many minds and spirits. We have come together as one and yet we are separate." Evixus said.

"Ugh, Sorry I asked." Casey had an itchy feeling, just how many things were trapped within this strange man? "Doesn't matter, there is still only one of you standing here. I can take you down, easy."

"We have something else in mind. We were going to offer you the chance to join us. You have proven yourself worthy by discovering this place." Evixus said.

"There's no way in heck I'm ever gonna join you." Casey said and finally the forgotten puck was released and sent flying toward him. Casey ducked just in time but the resounding smack as the puck hit the wall behind him shutter. He would have been insta-killed for sure.

"Suit yourself, we will simply take you. You can be a mindless servant just like that useless headmaster. He may have managed to regain control for a moment but putting an end to him was as easy as a suggestion."

Suddenly Evixus' voice changed to a mix of several and the sound was neither fluid nor pleasant to listen to. "The human mind is so frail. So easy to manipulate." Evixus' body began to transform as well, its plain human body melted away revealing the alien's true form.

Casey studied the entity before him, while still humanoid, its body was fluid like oil, black with hues of color swirling through. That wasn't all, out from Evixus' back sprouted two tentacles laced with what looked like an electrical current.

Regardless, Casey didn't need to be told to know to avoid them and so when they came at him he jumped out of the way. He nearly knocked a few wires loose and cringed because he couldn't afford to unplug anything that could end up killing the students. Casey scanned the area and saw a sealed window to his left, just wide enough for him to escape, if he could break it open that is.

That's when Casey remembered the cherry bombs. He pulled them out of his pocket and twisted them together at the fuse, retrieved his trusty lighter and lit the fuse. He only had one shot. Casey tossed the bombs toward the window where they landed nicely. While he waited for the explosion he grabbed a smoke bomb from his bag and tossed it on the ground. The glass of the window burst outward and when the smoke cleared Evixus discovered that Casey was gone.

* * *

Casey ran across the school grounds and through the gates, fueled by adrenaline, he wouldn't feel safe until he was at least a block away. Finally, turning a corner Casey let himself fall to his knees, all he had seen, felt and learned surged through him and he couldn't hold it in anymore. His body shook violently as he vomited on the sidewalk.

He hiccupped and dry heaved a few more times before trying to catch his breath. And the moment he did a hand grabbed his ankle and dragged him into a nearby alley. Casey kicked and screamed, trying to get loose but it was hard when he was dangling upside down by the ankle.

"Quit moving, Kid." Casey opened his eyes and gazed up at a familiar Tortoise, who was now wearing a look of recognition as well. "Casey Jones?"

"Slash?" Casey sighed in relief, he'd only met the leader of the Mighty Mutanimals a handful of times but he knew he was in good hands.

Slash set Casey down on the ground and checked him over. "You okay?" he aside. "That was quite the freak-out you had there." Slash reached into his pack and handed Casey a water.

Casey gladly accepted the water and soothed his sour mouth through one long gulp. "Thanks." He said through a gasp.

"What were you doing, coming out of that school?" Slash asked, "You don't fit Evixus' M. O."

"What do you know about him?"

"We've been working on this case for a while now." Slash said. "But we can't talk here." He said and scooped the teen up to sit on his shoulder before slipping into the night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to all of you who've given this story a chance I wanted to take the time to let you know that I have started a blog on tumblr @ e-rosewrites. I plan on posting links to these chapters there with mini summaries for each chapter. I would also like to take requests from you guys for mini drabbles and other drabbles I come up with. I hope to meet some of you there. that's enough rambling.


	8. Captive

Tick. Tick. Tick.

The clock itself wasn't what woke him, in fact he found the continuous sound to be soothing. No, what woke him was that its sound served as a reminder that he wasn't at home. It was a reminder that he was no longer on the grassy road side where he'd passed out. Actually, the place in which he found himself was soft and downy, it smelled fresh like a meadow after a rain storm. He was definitely not where he was supposed to be. Which meant that April woke before him and managed to bring him somewhere.

Donatello tested his body by wiggling a bit, he didn't seem to be restrained, which was good, but his body felt like it weighed a ton. The accident must have done more damage than he'd calculated, luckily he was only off by a bit or he could be waking up on the roadside with April lying dead next to him. He shook off that vision from his mind but began to wonder where she was anyway.

The purple clad turtled sat up, his head was spinning but he pushed through the dizziness and nausea and took in his surroundings. Though it was dark he could tell that he was in a fully furnished bedroom. Whose? He didn't know. He kicked off the quilt that covered him and a soft blue glow illuminated the room.

He discovered as he looked down at his leg that the blue glow belonged to a small ankle monitor. That explained why he wasn't tied up. There wasn't much he could do about his new accessory so he settled on finding April. Somehow he had to convince her to go back home with him.

Donatello slipped out of the bed making his way to the door, it complained as it peeled away from the door jamb, and he peeked his head out. Light from a room at the end of a short hallway told him that a television was playing. The light of which bounced through the hallway, illuminating the pictures that hung on the wall. From the pictures he could tell that this home belonged to an elderly couple.

Following the light to the living room, Donatello saw that the news was on so he caught the date and time. It had been a day and a half since the chase! Where were his brothers? No way they would have stopped trying to find him… unless, something happened to them. A feeling of dread washed over him.

A small sound caused him finally notice the occupant sleeping on the couch. It was April and her face was scrunched up in pain. Donatello could tell that it wasn't too much pain, he knew almost every face she made. This particular face told him that she was merely uncomfortable. Making his way around to the front of the couch he knelt down next to her.

Donatello tilted his head to the side, she looked more fragile than the last time he'd seen her like this. But even like this, in her darkest time he found her to be stunning. Her long eyelashes rested against her skin, skirting the edges of her freckle dusted cheeks. He smiled, remembering the way her nose would wrinkle when she didn't understand something he said and the way her eyes lit up when she did.

April sensed his presence and her eyes snapped open causing Donatello to lose he balance, his shell grinding hard against the coffee table behind him. Items on the table clattered and fell while the color on his cheeks reddened as much as it could against his green skin. "Oh… um." He rubbed the back of his head. "Morning?"

April let out a sigh, her eyebrows knitted in anger. Whether her anger came from being woken up or just her general predicament, Donatello couldn't tell. She pushed herself up into a sitting position wincing all the while. Donatello assumed that the injuries she'd sustained during the accident were screaming at her.

The moment he saw her in pain, his protective instincts kicked in, being that he was the healer of the team he couldn't help himself. "Are you hurt?" he asked, "let me have a look." He reached forward to touch her arm and she yanked away, the act caused her to let out a small pained sound.

"Don't pretend you care." She said, finally pushing herself up off the couch into a standing position. Donatello followed her up to meet her gaze, "nice try back there, with the van."

"I admit that it could have gone better." He said sheepishly, "I had to stop you somehow. I didn't want to hurt you." He added, it was true although, had his calculations been even minutely off… the vision of her lying dead next to him flooded his mind again.

"Are you serious? You tried to kill me." She said.

"Tried to kill you?" he had to smile in spite of himself, were it anyone else, an attempt might've been the right word. No, Donatello knew exactly what he was doing. "Interesting, I rarely do anything without intent behind it."

April bristled, how could he be so smug? "It doesn't matter anyway. Point is that you were unsuccessful and I have you trapped here."

He glanced down at the lovely accessory around his ankle and shook his leg, it didn't even move, just kept on glowing. "I see that."

"It's a special ankle monitor." She said. "If you take one step out of this house it will administer a shock powerful enough to knock you out." She smiled, she seemed to be particularly proud of being able to capture him. "So I wouldn't try escaping."

Donatello cocked his head to the side, a small smile danced on his lips, "I'm not going to escape; I don't need to." He said, "in fact, not only will you let me go of your own accord, you'll come back home _with_ me."

His gaze bore into her and her heart skipped a beat, he was steadfast in his resolve. April managed to tear her glance away, this had to be a trick. "How can you be so sure?"

"I have faith in you, April" He said. The silence that surrounded them after his comment was palpable. April clenched her hands into fists, she couldn't let him toy with her like this. He would say anything to get free. She knew the truth, she knew how they really felt about her. "The only way we'll be leaving together is when I hand you over to them."

"Hand me over to whom? I assume it's not the lovely couple who owns this house, where are they by the way?" he asked.

April took offence to his tone, "I don't like what you're insinuating." She said. Did Donatello really think she'd hurt an old couple? "The owners are snowbirds. They headed down south for the winter a few days ago according to the calendar in the kitchen." She said.

"I see, and the reason we are staying in their home would be?"

"To lie low until the heat from the car chase dies down." She said. "Your brothers got too close." The way she said _brothers_ , as if the word was acid in her mouth, made Donatello cringe.

"Speaking of attempted murder." He muttered, fighting against the urge to grab April and shake some sense into her.

"Relax." She said. "I was only trying to buy time." She turned her attention to the newscaster on the television. "The only body found at the scene was that of Overkill."

Donatello saw a small flash in her eyes, anyone else would have missed it but he knew April better than anyone, it was a flash of relief. She was keeping an eye on the news to make sure his brothers were alright. And just like that Donatello's faith in April was restored. He'd convincer her to return yet.

* * *

It was nearing lunch time when Donatello walked in from the garage, he'd decided to busy himself with fixing little things around the house. April watched as he dropped a tool box on the table, she got the feeling he was being overly obnoxious on purpose.

"You aren't a very good captor." He said, but his tone told her that he was in a playful mood.

"Excuse me?"

"Well I mean, it's kind of boring."

"I'm not here to entertain you. I thought you were fixing things." She said

"I'm taking a break, I'm pretty hungry." He said. "Aren't you?"

"No." April said and her stomach betrayed her by letting out a small growl. She blushed. Damn it.

Donatello didn't laugh or tease her, instead his face dropped in concern. "When was the last time you had a decent meal? I've noticed even before you went rouge that you've lost a lot of weight. I'm worried about you."

"You're worried about me?"

"Yeah, it's called friendship."

"No, it's called Stockholm Syndrome." She said.

"Not technically since I've felt this way befo… you know what, never mind. Point is you are my friend and I want to help." He said, crap, he'd almost let his true feelings show. Oh god, she was staring at him, what now? He had to say something. "It is almost lunch time and we have time to kill. A small meal wouldn't kill anyone right?" why was he using the word kill so much. "It's not as if…"

April held up a hand to stop him, "You aren't going to shut up until I eat, are you?"

"No." he blushed, thankful that she'd finally said something.

"Fine…" she said, "should've gagged you." She said under her breath, he had to agree to that sentiment. God, he was so lame.

April searched, what looked to be the pantry, "Awesome, looks like they have everything needed to make ramen." April's stomach seared at the prospect of homemade ramen.

"That sounds really good, actually." He said. "Hey, remember when Murakami-san taught Mikey that recipe for Pizza Ramen?" catching a glimpse of her smile, he continued. "We never got to try it because he ate it all."

"And he left the recipe too close to the burner and it caught fire. Then we couldn't figure out how to make it again." She finished the story, that time felt like so long ago. What she wouldn't give to go back to those days. When she was living with them temporarily, dangerous as those days were, and as much as she missed her dad, they were the best of her life.

"That's right." He said. His smile bore into her.

It was happening again. She had to put a stop to it. "I know what you're doing. It won't work. Those memories mean nothing to me." She huffed and turned her attention to searching for a pot.

Donatello was taken aback, meant nothing to her? Suddenly he was reminded of the time she'd told them to stay away from her. He couldn't go through that feeling again. His heart twisted and he had to turn away before she could see his heart breaking. He grabbed up the tool box and hurried back to the garage.

Unaware of how her comment hurt Donatello, April continued to gather everything she needed to make ramen. She could hear him tinkering around in the garage, fixing yet another trinket. It was a sound she'd heard so often in the lair that it was almost comforting to hear it now.

Sometime later, the water began to boil and April quickly added a few ingredients to the pot. She was acutely aware of the lack of sound coming from the garage. Had Donatello managed to escape? April leaned back slightly, her place at the stove gave her a pretty good view of the inside of the garage.

Expecting to see evidence of his escape, April was unprepared for what she saw. Donatello sat against the far wall, tools scattered all around him, with his head in his hands. His body was shaking ever so slightly and April knew he was crying. The sight nearly broke her heart.

April leaned back a bit more, there was no way he was really crying, if so, why? With her hand still on the pot it began to slide forward. Before April could stop it, the pot teetered in her direction. She jumped back, out of the way, in time to avoid a serious injury but the boiling water still managed to splash onto her right hand.

"Son of a… OW!" the pan fell to the ground with a loud: Clank. Clang. Clang. It rolled off to the side, spilling what was left of the water all over the linoleum floor, where it lie forgotten.

Donatello was there in an instant. "April!" he hurried to her side, after taking in the scene he knew she'd burned herself. "We need to run cold water over it." He said and pulled her to the sink and did just that. "How did this happen?"

"I was just…." She looked up at him, his eyes still carried so much sadness yet he had room to hold worry for her in them. It was then that she noticed just how beautiful his eyes were. Soft and kind but still passionate and blazing, kind of like tiger's eye stones.

He blushed at her intense gaze, what exactly had gone through her mind just then? He decided to save that question for later. He pulled her hand from the cool tap water and studied it. "We better treat that or it'll leave a major scar." He ran his fingers over the wound slowly, he hated to see his April in such pain.

Donatello helped April to the chair and searched for the first aid kit, he found one underneath the sink and wasted no time digging through it until he found what he was looking for. "This should help draw the heat out." He said, returning to her side with a burn salve in hand.

April watch him unscrew the cap and apply some of the salve to his fingers, every move was calculated and perfect. She held out her hand to him and he took it in his careful hands. He spread the salve over her tender skin so lightly that she hardly felt any pain. His gentleness was making her whole body tingle, she liked it, and she didn't want it to stop. But just as she had that thought, he finished and wrapped her hand in gauze for good measure.

"There, good as new, well you might have a tiny scar but you should be fine otherwise." He smiled. He was still holding her hand, realizing that he shouldn't be he let go and began putting the first aid kit back together.

April began to think about all the times he had been there for her… if he didn't care about her like she though then… why. Then it struck her, "Wow," April said. "You're very good at this."

Donatello froze, April's demeanor suddenly looked unnatural, dangerous, like back at the dojo. He took a step back. "G-good at what?"

"You almost had me believing that you and the others actually care about me. As if you understand anything. You know nothing about the way I feel."

That was it, he'd had enough of this. "How can you say that?" his face was tight with anger, "There isn't anything I don't know about you, there's nothing I don't understand." He paused, "I should've just told you that you are important, that we need you, and that you make us better."

Getting lost in the heat of what he took a step back toward her. "Every day I should have let you know that there's no reason to feel empty because you still have your heart, your beautiful, strong, brave heart." He placed his hand over her heart.

At that moment her walls came crashing down, all that she'd done and said came rushing back to her. She fell to her knees. She couldn't breathe. Everything was sinking in on her, dragging her down into darkness. She clawed at her throat, trying to find air but there was none. She grabbed fistfuls of her hair and pulled hard, she need to focus on something else, she settled for pain.

Donatello sank down next to her. "Stop it, April." He untangled her fingers from her hair and drew her against him. "It's alright, April." Donatello said. "I've got you."

April crawled into his arms and hugged him tightly as he pulled them up off of the ground. His smell filled her senses, it was refreshing like the ocean but cozy like home. "Let's go home, D." They broke the hug and April snapped her fingers causing his ankle monitor fell to the ground.

Donatello smiled at her and it was then that April could see herself reflected in his eyes. Her true self, the way he saw her and it made her feel valuable, she'd never felt that way. Ever. Her body acted of its own accord, her hands reached out, landing softly on his plastron.

He stiffened, unprepared as her slender fingers slid up and around his neck, she toyed with the bands of his mask, pulling her body up against his. He swallowed hard, she was going to kiss him. He felt warm and cold at the same time, it was an irrational feeling but he liked it all the same. All the ways he'd imagined this moment going never even came close to the real thing.

April's lips brushed against his for a second before the sound of something crashing through the window tore them apart. Donatello shoved April behind him and turned to face the interruption. A thick puddle of inky darkness dripped in through the remains of the window and pooled on the ground in front of them. The puddle began to rise up only to take on a humanoid shape. "What is that?" Donatello asked.

"It's Evixus." April said. "We have to get out of here."

"I knew you couldn't be trusted, Girl." An inky tentacle sprouted from Evixus' back and slithered along the ground before it wrapped around April's ankle. With one swift yank she was ripped away from Donatello.

"Let her go!" Donatello ordered, grabbing a knife from the cutting board where April had been cutting vegetables for their lunch.

"As you wish." April let out a scream as her body was flung into the garage, her body crashed into a large tool chest causing it to topple down on top of her. She tried to move out of the way but she was too slow and the chest pinned her leg to the ground. White hot pain flooded through her and she wanted to puke but fought against it.

"April!" Donatello hurried toward the garage but Evixus used one of his tentacles to sweep Donatello's legs out from under him and he fell to the ground.

"You are the one we are looking for." Evixus' tentacle slithered up Donatello's leg and coiled around his body until it was wrapped around his neck. The tentacle slithered around his arms preventing him from using the knife in his hand.

April jammed her good leg against the tool chest but it wouldn't move. She could see Donatello struggling to shake the tentacles off of him. He let out a scream when the tentacle shocked him.

April yanked harder, the pain finally numbing to a constant cold sensation, she didn't care, she yanked harder and harder, the chest wouldn't move.

Donatello ignored the stinging sensation coming from the tentacle and managed to gather enough power to stab at the base of the tentacle. It slithered back where it came from and Donatello pushed himself up off the ground, but before he could even gather his thoughts Evixus rammed his fist into Donatello's head, sending back to the ground.

"Donnie!" April let out a scream of frustration and her power prickled to life filling her. The tool chest flew out through the roof along with April as her power caused her to levitate.

"I don't think so, little girl." She turned back to find Evixus hovering behind her. He was fast. "You are mine now. This power you have has been tainted by my influence." Evixus snapped his fingers, the world seemed to implode, swirling around and around toward a central point: April. Suddenly her mind shut down, her body fell head first toward the ruins of the house beneath her.

Her body landed next to Donatello, he saw that vision again only this time it felt real. Donatello scooted himself as close to her as he could. He placed a hand on her cheek. "The world can fall apart around us and I will always find a way to save you." He said tucking a stray hair behind her ear. "I love you, April." He said before his body finally gave in to the weight of fatigue.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Once again, I want to say thanks to my lovely readers and reviewers, you guys are the best!
> 
> In the next chapter our sweet, sweet Mikey wakes up. Raph and Leo are more than a little upset about the way things are going. We learn about Slash and what he and the other Mutanimals know about all of this.


	9. Amplifier

Raphael watched Michelangelo's baby face and wondered if he'd ever see his brother's goofy grin again. Taking a seat at the edge of Michelangelo's bed, Raphael opened up a comic book he'd found in the sewer earlier.

Hopefully, Raphael's tried and true method of getting Michelangelo to smile would work. This method was embarrassing as hell but he was willing to try anything. When they were kids Michelangelo loved it when Raphael read comics while doing the different voices.

"I found a comic, it's the fifth issue but it looks like you might like it." Raphael said. "It's called Cold Star. Based on the cover it looks like this guy goes around the galaxy fighting aliens." Raphael peeled open the first page and began to read, "You thought you could stop me, Cold Star." Raphael said, playing the voice of the bad guy.

" _Now feel the effects of my mind absorbing ray." The bad guy said. He had his ray gun pointed at Cold Star while he pressed the button to activate it._

_A yellow beam surrounded Cold Star but nothing happened. "What? Why isn't it working?"_

" _The key to defeating your mind absorbing ray is a strong will…" Cold Star said, his hands on his hips like a true hero. "Now release all of the minds you've stolen, Dr. Aintgood."_

" _Never! My ray may not be able to stop you but I have other weapons at my disposal." Dr. Aintgood said._

" _Oh Yeah, well I have a secret weapon" Cold Star said, "the likes of which you've never seen before."_

Instead of turning the page to see what the secret weapon was, Raphael closed the comic book, his face flushed with embarrassment and anger. "Alright, Mikey, if you want to know what the secret weapon is you have to wake up."

Michelangelo's sleeping face remained unmoving, no smile, not even a twitch. "You hear me, Mikey? Wake up!" Raphael let the rage bubble up inside of him. He wanted to feel anything but the emptiness and so he welcomed the heat of his anger. "Stop playing around and wake up!" Raphael slammed his fist on the mattress, the comic book fell to the ground with a flutter.

Raphael wrapped his arms around Michelangelo, hugging him around the middle. He rested his cheek against Michelangelo's plastron and could hear a heartbeat. It wasn't good enough for Raphael. "Come on, little bro. I know you can do it. Please. You have to wake up. Or I don't know what I'll do."

Michelangelo's eyes opened slowly and he lifted a hand to pat the top of his brother's head. Raphael lifted his head and froze. "Man." Michelangelo's voice cracked a bit, "I'm really hungry."

"Idiot." Raphael let go of his baby brother and sat back. "You've had us worried sick and all you care about is food." Raphael couldn't help but laugh and soon Michelangelo joined in.

The laughter caused Leonardo to peek his head inside, finding the hysterics to be unusual considering the circumstances. Seeing Michelangelo sitting up in bed with Raphael, laughing, made his bitter heart start beating again. He hurried into the room and wrapped his arms around both of his brothers.

"Hey, it's okay guys." Michelangelo said but didn't fight to end the hug. Hugs such as these; ones that involved Leonardo and Raphael were ultra-rare because of the deteriorating nature of their relationship.

Michelangelo smiled but that soon faded when he realized that something was missing from the hug, "Where's D?" he asked effectively ending the hug.

* * *

Casey, surrounded by the Mighty Mutanimals, described the events of his recent escape from Springhill Academy. Leaving out the fact that half of his team was incapacitated or missing, he began with how he'd been brainwashed and ended with how his solo mission to get the fragment back lead to his current situation.

When Casey was finished telling his story Slash nodded and tossed a manila folder onto the table where a few pages slipped free. "This is all the information Pete collected on his mission a few days ago."

The sports clad teen looked at the file and one of the pages caught his eye so he picked it up. He saw the words _Clairvoyance Program_ and immediately thought of April. "This is the program for psychics, right?"

"Correct, all of the missing students you saw at the school are all psychics." Rockwell said.

"What does he need psychics for?" Casey asked.

"By using these particular students as a conduit to tap into the Power Fragment, Evixus plans on creating something called the Hivemind." Rockwell answered and handed Casey another paper, an email to the headmaster explaining just that.

"Hivemind." Where had he heard that before? Casey's eyes lit up once he remembered "Yeah, Evixus said something about that before I escaped."

"So far that's about all we could gather from these files, the rest of it doesn't make sense because we are missing a key element. Something that ties all of this together." Rockwell said.

"Yeah, we think that it might have something to do with these tablets the students are carrying around all the time." Pete said, "I managed to snag one but the Doc hasn't been able to find anything."

"Yeah! They're transmitting a frequency that only humans can hear. I heard it when I was with Donnie. It was just like the one I heard when my mind got taken over." Casey said.

"A frequency? I've searched this thing as thoroughly as I could, I didn't find anything like that." Rockwell said, "Puzzling. Perhaps because it is alien software. I wish there was a way I could find that frequency."

"Donnie might've figured something out, he's good with alien tech. I mean he was able to tap into the frequency hidden in the Power Fragment. Maybe we can use his computer to get into this tablet."

"Yes, Perhaps Donatello and I can figure this out together." Rockwell said and turned his attention to his leader, "Slash, might I suggest working with the Turtles on this one?"

"That might be a good idea since we don't know what we are up against." Leatherhead added.

Slash didn't need time to think about this one, "Right." He said. "Pete, you stay here, keep an eye out for any activity and call us if anything changes."

"On it." Pete said, hurrying away to his workstation.

"We'll need as many helping hands on this as we can get." Slash said.

"Something I forgot to mention. My team is a bit short staffed at the moment. "You see, Donnie has been kidnapped and Michelangelo is…"

"Michelangelo is what?" Leatherhead said, alarm written all over his features yet he managed to keep his anger in check. "What happened to him?"

"He's alive but," he paused, "It's a long story. I'll explain on the way to the lair." Casey said.

* * *

When they reached the lair Leatherhead was anxious to see Michelangelo again and so he was the first one over the turnstiles. What he found brought the biggest of smiles to his face. Michelangelo was sitting on the couch reading a comic book, awake and looking fine. "Michelangelo." He said.

"Leatherhead!" Michelangelo sprung to his feet and embraced his reptilian friend in a tight hug.

"Casey said that you were in a coma."

"Oh, you mean my nap? Nah, no biggie." He smiled, then became aware of the other Mutanimals filtering in behind Leatherhead. "Oh, Hey guys. What's going on?"

"The Doc needs to borrow Donatello's lab." Slash said, while Leonardo and Raphael entered the room with confusion written on their features.

The Turtles lead Rockwell and the rest of the Mutanimals to Donatello's lab, the mutant monkey wasted no time in getting to work. While Rockwell worked on organizing Donatello's findings the others shared what they knew with one another. When they were done Rockwell sat back in his seat, Donatello had, indeed, found a way to tap into the alien technology.

"Gentlemen." Rockwell said, calling to the attention of the Turtles, Casey and his own comrades. "Using the program developed by Donatello, I was better able to decrypt the contents of this tablet."

The group gathered around Donatello's workstation and Rockwell continued, "From what I can tell, in addition to the information we've collected, it seems that the students are being sent subliminal messages by way of these tablets."

"Aw, that's creepy, dude." Michelangelo wined.

"Indeed." Rockwell said, "But that isn't the half of it. Evixus is implanting negative thoughts into their minds." He turned his attention back to the computer program he'd been working on for the past hour, "The frequency, while indeed similar to the one Casey heard, is completely different." Receiving looks of confusion Rockwell thought it better to show rather than tell. "I will play it for you and you can hear it for yourself." He said and pressed play.

_**"No one wants you around."** _

_**"You're worthless."** _

_**"You're pathetic."  
** _

_**"You will never be good enough."** _

_**"You're a burden."** _

_**"Your friends hate you."** _

_**"You're better off dead."** _

"Turn that off." Leonardo ordered and it was done. "This mental and emotional abuse. If every student in there is forced to listen to this all day then their minds wouldn't stand a chance."

"Yes, they'd have weak minds. Perfect for mind extraction." Michelangelo said, flipping through the comic book he still had in his hands. "It makes total sense, just like in this issue of _Cold Star_ , Dr. Aintgood was able to suck out the minds of everyone with a weak mind and they became a hoard of mindless vessels."

Ignoring Mikey, the others carried on until Casey spoke up"Could these messages lead someone to act in ways and do things they wouldn't normally do?" Casey asked.

"Why, yes. It is a form of manipulation, after all." Rockwell said and the moment the words left his mouth Casey shoved a tablet, with a yellow case, into his hands. "What is this?"

"April's tablet, I swiped it from her room last night while I was looking for clues." He said.

"Casey." Leonardo started, he didn't need Casey holding on to false hope. The blue clad turtle had seen the truth behind April's eyes, she was fully aware of what she was doing, her betrayal was real.

"Hear me out, Leo. April might be a victim in all of this. Once you see that April has been brainwashed like these others then you'll see that she is still on our side." The look Casey was giving him made him falter, it was better that he found out sooner rather than later anyway.

"Fine, Rockwell, check April's tablet." Leonardo said.

"Alright." Rockwell said then replaced the tablet connected to the computer with April's and ran Donatello's program. "It will take a moment to sync up." He said.

"I don't understand. If Evixus wants to extract minds then how can he get everyone in the world to use those tablets? It would be impossible." Raphael said.

"Impossible to get everyone to use a tablet, yes. But not impossible to get everyone to hear these messages. If Evixus had something powerful enough they could boost the signal throughout the entire world."

"Something powerful, something like an amplifier?" Casey said suddenly, "Does the amplifier have to be an object? Can it be a person?"

"What are you getting at, Casey?" Raphael pressed, he hated it when people beat around the bush. The fiery turtle began to wonder what it would be like to read people's minds, to get them to spit it their information.

"I told you about how the missing students were in these weird chambers, right?" he waited for them to nod before continuing, Raphael snarled a bit but nodded too. "Well, I just remembered something, there were two other chambers there, they were empty but one of them was labeled _Amplifire_."

"I suppose it could be a person but it would have to be someone with a strong mind. If there was such a person then Evixus would have enough power to absorb the entire planet in a matter of months. But there is no human on earth with that capacity of psychological power." Rockwell said.

"Maybe no human, what about a superhuman, say the mind of a mutant?" Leonardo asked. Suddenly the room was quiet, they all knew the magnitude of their situation now.

"That son of a… Evixus is going to use Donnie's mind to conquer the world." Raphael said and gripped the handles of his Sais, "and April helped him do it."

"We don't know that for sure." Casey said. "Rockwell, please check April's tablet, it has to be ready by now, right?"

Rockwell nodded, so lost in his conversation was he that he'd forgotten all about the April's tablet. He turned his attention to the computer screen and clicked on the mouse a few times before frowning. "That's odd."

"What?" Casey asked.

"I don't know how to say this but it seems that April's tablet is clean. In other words, there are no signs that Evixus used this tablet to control your friend."

Casey backed away from the group. "No. I was so sure." He said. "There's no way, Red would never do this to us. This has to be a mistake. You guys don't really think that she'd deliver Donnie to Evixus, do you?"

Casey's answer came in the form of an earsplitting tsunami of sound. "AGH!" the others, unable to hear the sound, watched him with concern as he covered his ears. The sound brought him to his knees.

"Casey!" Leonardo knelt down next to his comrade and placed a gentle hand on his shoulder. "What is it?"

"It's AGHH. That sound… again." He tried to cover his ears harder but he couldn't. "It's so loud." Casey fell over and rolled into the fetal position, trying to curl away from the pain he was feeling. "It feels like my ear drums are gonna burst."

"Quick give him these." Rockwell said, handing Leonardo a set of earbuds. "They'll filter out the sound." He said.

Leonardo helped Casey insert the earbuds and the young boy gasped when he could no longer hear the sound. "Ugh, Thanks. Wow. These are amazing, how the heck did you happen to have these? Not that I'm complaining." Casey directed his question at Rockwell.

"I found them on Donatello's work desk he must've invented these buds for you and April once he discovered what the frequency could do."

"Good old, Donnie." Casey sad and was struck by extreme sadness because while Donatello was developing these earbuds to keep the two humans on his team safe, April was coming up with her plan to kidnap him. Not only that, but the fact that the sound that was currently being broadcast through the city only proved that April had delivered Donatello to Evixus. "I can't believe I was wrong about April."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Information overload, I know but don't worry Chapter 10 will bring you more action than you can handle. As always, I hope you enjoyed this and thank you for the amazing reviews, you guys make me smile.
> 
> In the next chapter the frequency causes chaos to spread throughout the city, luckily the Mighty Mutanimals and the TMNT crew, well most of them, have teamed up. Though, Raph may be a little reluctant to let his baby brother back into the fray. The plan to infiltrate the school and shut down the Hivemind computer is underway, our heroes have it all under control, right?


	10. Frequency

 

* * *

"Casey, I'm sorry." Leonardo said, then tried to place a reassuring hand on Casey's shoulder which was promptly rejected when the boy ducked out of its way. Casey grabbed April's tablet, ripping it away from the cord that bound it to Donatello's computer and bolted from the lab.

As much as it hurt Leonardo to see Casey in such a broken state over forcing the truth of April's betrayal on him, it was necessary. After all, the leader in blue understood, all too well, the hurt Casey was going through. There weren't too many humans in the city that Leonardo was willing consider to be part of the family. Losing April meant that he'd lost his sister.

Leonardo's attention was pulled away from Casey's departure when he noticed Rockwell shift uncomfortably in his chair, in a move that was so often attributed to Donatello. Leonardo knew it meant that the scientist had discovered something interesting. "What did you find?"

Rockwell was slightly startled at being addressed so suddenly, though he wasn't surprised by Leonardo's intuition. "The frequency Casey just heard has stopped. Fortunately, the computer was set up to continually record the sound pressure levels in the atmosphere and so I managed to capture those sound waves."

"And?" Leonardo pressed.

Rockwell motioned for Leonardo to take a look at the monitor before he maximized a tab on the screen to reveal a spectrogram. "This tells me that the frequency Casey just heard was about twenty-thousand hertz, which is the highest a human can hear. The odd thing is, unlike the other frequencies, this one wasn't carrying a subliminal message."

"That _is_  odd. Why would Evixus send out a frequency that is so different from the others? He must be hiding something else."

"Precisely," Rockwell said, opening another tab in order to display another spectrogram. "I surmise that the last frequency was a red herring." The doctor said as he gestured to the new spectrogram, "Meant to keep our focus off of this infrasound."

"What is an Infrasound?"

"It's a frequency below twenty hertz that humans cannot hear but, baring more research, is said to have negative effects on humans."

"Wait a moment, this means that Evixus knows about our ability to monitor his original frequencies." Leonardo said. Then it dawned on him, the earbuds weren't designed to stop infrasound.

Casey was in danger.

* * *

Upon reaching the dojo, Casey fell to his knees and glanced at the tablet in his hands. The face he saw reflected back at him was one he didn't recognize. He saw the face of a boy: helpless, defeated and heartbroken. He hated it. He'd only felt this way once before and that was when his mom left.

Anger.

Anger, so thick it threatened to suffocate him, filled his entire being.

Casey gripped the edges of the tablet so hard that it made sounds of protest under the pressure. The urge to smash the delicate piece of tech trickled through his body, taking control of his arm. He hurled the tablet as hard as he could, it flew across the dojo before hitting the weapons wall only to fall to the ground with an unsatisfying THUMP.

Casey walked over to the tablet and discovered that, due to the yellow case, it was still in pristine condition. This added fuel to the fire of his rage and Casey glanced up at the weapons and found the hockey stick he used for practice. Plucking it from its hanging place, he loomed over the tablet with malice in his eyes.

Casey brought the hockey stick down onto the screen of the helpless device and it cracked slightly. It still wasn't enough to satiate his wrath. He brought the stick up into the air again and, using all the power he could muster, brought the stick down again and again until the tablet was no longer recognizable.

"AAGHH!" Casey fell to his knees, scooping up the pieces, the only parts of April he had left. He balled his hands into tight fists embedding the tiny shards of glass he'd been holding into his palms.

_This pain feels good, doesn't it?_

_There's a reason for that._

_I think you know what it is._

_You should've seen this._

_You knew something was wrong with her_

_It's all your fault_

_Donatello would still be here, if not for you._

_You let your team down._

_There's only one thing you can do now._

Casey's hand, of its own accord, removed a tanto knife from the weapons wall. Casey was familiar with the history of such a weapon and nodded in agreement with the feeling in his mind. The only way he could keep his honor in the face of such a defeat was to perform  _Seppuku._

Turning the blade in his hands to test the weight, he caught his reflection in the blade. This time he recognized the person looking back at him. Indeed, it was his true self. A weak child, only playing at being the hero when in reality he was worthless, ordinary, and a burden on his team.

Casey began to wonder, as he studied the fine edge of the blade, what it would feel like to die. To end all the pain, all the helplessness, all of his suffering. Would it be freeing? Casey turned the blade inward and gripped the handle with both hands, then, closing his eyes, he drew the blade toward his abdomen but stopped abruptly.

" _Casey Jones."_ Evixus said, his presents probing at Casey's vulnerable mind. _"It would be so easy for us to kill you right now."_ And to get his point across, quite literally, Evixus made Casey poke himself with the tip of the tanto knife.

" _Lucky for you, it would be foolish of us to waste this opportunity. We know your little friends have been spying on us. It is only fair that we have a spy of our own. Wouldn't you agree?"_ Casey nodded.  _"Good."_ Evixus said.

With his mind released, and the conversation with Evixus forgotten, Casey was left staring down at the tanto knife in his hands. He felt his stomach churn painfully at what he'd almost done. He half dropped, half threw the dangerous weapon away from himself. His hands began shaking and his chest tightened as he fought for breath. He held back the wave of panic just as Leonardo walked in.

"Casey, are you okay?" Leonardo asked tentatively.

"Huh? Yeah." Casey took a shallow breath, squashing any chance of a panic attack. "I think so. I just got a little carried away…"

Leonardo made his way over to the teen to see just what he'd gotten carried away doing. The first thing he noticed were the shattered remains of what was once April's tablet computer. The second, and most immediate call for his attention, were Casey's bloodied and glass embedded palms.

"A  _little_  carried away?" Leonardo glanced up at Casey's shame-filled eyes and decided that a lecture wasn't necessary. "Wait here." He said before crossing the room to retrieve the med kit that was kept in the dojo. He returned in a matter of seconds and knelt down in front of Casey and proceeded to tend to Casey's hands, first with a pair of tweezers.

Casey winced as Leonardo painstakingly plucked each fine shard of glass from his hands, not a word shared between them. What could Casey even say? Should he tell Leonardo that he'd almost ended his life? No. it was a fleeting moment of weakness and if Leonardo knew about it, he would surely have him sent to the hospital to be watched. No, he needed to stay and be a part of this fight.

"I'm sorry." Leonardo said after a moment.

"For what?" Casey asked.

"You did this because I forced the truth about April's betrayal on you."

"I can see why you did it; I wasn't going to believe it without proof. 'Sides, I would have figured out a way to translate it myself, if you hadn't." Casey said and fell silent.

Leonardo nodded, then cocked his head to the side as he studied Casey's face. It seemed that the infrasound wasn't effecting him at all and it was unnerving. "Are you sure you're okay?"

"I'm sure." he asked a slight edge to his voice as he was getting annoyed by the repeated question.

"Alright." Leonardo said and as much as he wanted to push the matter, he decided against it because Casey did, indeed, look okay. "By the way, you can take out those earbuds, they are useless now." Casey removed them and felt instantly better, he hated having things in his ears.

"Does that way have anything to do with you asking if I'm okay?"

"Yes, but it doesn't seem to be effecting you." Leonardo said and quickly filled Casey in on their current situation.

"Maybe the infrasound just doesn't work on me. Did you check on the city?" Casey asked.

"I told Mickey and Leatherhead to check it out as I made my way here." Leonardo said as he finished wrapping Casey's hands. "Done. I'd like to tell you to keep the fighting to a minimum but, as it stands now, I don't think I can ask you to do that. Just be careful."

"I'll try." Casey said, then watched as Leonardo cleaned up the remains of the tablet with a small broom and dustpan. "Um, thanks." He said sheepishly.

Leonardo shook his head as if to say that thanks weren't necessary and helped Casey to his feet before the pair exited the dojo.

"What happened to your hands, kid?" Slash asked with such genuine concern that Casey decided to let the  _kid_  comment slide.

"Just had a Raph moment." He said.

"Hey, just what is that supposed to mean?" Raphael called from his place on the couch. "Man, whatever, if he can make jokes then he's fine."

At that moment, Michelangelo and Leatherhead returned with good news, "Everything's fine topside." Michelangelo said.

"It is true," Leatherhead added. "For the most part it is a quiet night in the city, and those few people who are awake this late don't seem to be effected by the infrasound."

"Good, that'll make the extraction easier." Leonardo said.

"Extraction?" Michelangelo asked, "Sweet."

"You mean we are gonna get Donnie back?" Raphael asked, finally joining everyone near the entrance of the dojo.

"That's right." Leonardo said.

"How are we gonna do that? We don't even know where he is." Casey said.

"Maybe not but the only lead we have to go on is that this infrasound is being transmitted, the only way Evixus could have accomplished that is through Donnie. So the best place to start is back at the academy." Leonardo explained. "Slash, I can't ask you to come with us, it's going to be dangerous."

"Hey, this is our investigation, too. 'sides, you guys are our allies, we are in this together." Slash said, much to the agreement to the rest of his team.

Leonardo nodded, "let's do this."

* * *

Leonardo, with Slash's direction, led the group to the academy via the sewer tunnels as it would give them the element of surprise. If Evixus knew as much about them as Leonardo feared, then they would need every advantage they could get.

"There." Slash said, as they had finally reached their destination. "That exit will give us the best view of the school without being discovered," he added, pointing to a ladder, leading to the surface.

Leonardo made his way to the top of the ladder and gave pause, he wasn't quite sure what to expect on the surface. Though, Michelangelo and Leatherhead had reported that all was well, his mind still went to the worst case scenario: a city in utter chaos.

Leonardo lifted the manhole cover with minimal effort, as usual, and assessed the area outside. After a few moments, when it was clear that nothing out of the ordinary was going to happen, he shoved the manhole cover to the side and stepped out, into the alley.

The cold November night air swept over him as he beaconed the others to follow. The group spilled into the alley while Leonardo made his way to the end of the edge of a nearby building in order to get a look at their ultimate destination.

The academy, surrounded by an intricately designed rod iron fence, sat at the end of the street. It wasn't until Leonardo really had a good look that he learned that the school was far from what it seemed. Leonardo focused on the fence and counted at least a dozen sentries posted along the top of the fence. Through the bars he could see two robots just like Overkill, standing guard around the main entrance, while search lights danced elegantly around them.

_Tactical Nightmare_ was the only phrase to come to Leonardo's mind but it did give him hope that they would find Donatello inside.

Raphael crept closer toward Leonardo, not only because he was tired of waiting for the signal, but because he could tell that his brother was uneasy. The red clad turtle peered over at the academy and nodded, with new-found understanding of what lay ahead. "What now, fearless leader?" Raphael asked, his voice a mix of sarcasm and genuine curiosity.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am so sorry that it took me so long to update. I had a lot of trouble with this chapter, I knew where I wanted it to go but it took three revisions and two complete rewrites and ultimately I had to split it into two chapters. Hopefully, you guys can forgive me and the next chapter will be up shortly, I promise.
> 
> I would like to thank all of my reviewers, I know writing should be done for oneself but knowing you guys are out there waiting makes me want to keep going. 
> 
> Have a wonderful day and feed me reviews if you are so inclined. Thanks.


	11. Extraction

Four silvery shuriken sliced through the air, each one hitting its intended mark simultaneously as they smashed the bulbs of the searchlights. Triggered by the loss of light, the Overkill twins scanned the darkness for the cause.

Leonardo smirked, his aim was getting better. The blue turtle used his katana to reflect the moonlight toward a building on the academy's west side, where Casey and the Mutanimals were stationed. It was a signal to Casey to enact his part of the plan: taking out the sentries with his explosive hockey pucks.

Upon hearing a loud explosions, the Overkill twins stalked into the darkness to investigate, giving Leonardo the opening he needed. The elite ninja jumped to the ground beyond the boundary of the main gate, twin katana blades dancing around him as he sliced through the sentries mounted on either side of the gate.

Leonardo crossed the courtyard and pushed through the main entrance, though it was dark, he could see that his path was devoid of enemies. Evixus must have thought that no one would be able to get through his first batch of defenses. Foolish.

He reached the headmaster's office and wasted no time in seeing himself in. He was surprised to find that the secret entrance, Casey had mentioned, was left open. It could only mean one thing: that the room was no longer hiding its secrets.

Still, Leonardo made his way through the secret passage and was greeted by the second door, the one leading to the Hivemind, only to find that, it too, was wide open.

Cautiously, Leonardo crept deeper into the darkened room and frowned, for a room that was supposed to be harboring enough energy to enslave a city, it sure was quiet.

Taking a better look at his surroundings he noticed the chambers, as Casey had described them, only they were missing something crucial. The blue clad turtle crept up to one of the chambers and peered through the window in the center, only to discover that it was empty. He didn't need to check the others to know that they were empty too.

Then his eyes fell upon the chamber with the nameplate, on which the word  _Amplifire_  could be read. He rushed over and yanked the empty chamber open, and nothing but a mass of wires greeted him. He grabbed a handful of the wires and noted that they were still warm and… dripping?

It was then that he noticed the coppery smell of blood, he studied the wires closely and watched as a small droplet of blood pooled at the tip of what looked like a phone jack. The droplet broke loose of the wire and splashed silently on the ground near Leonardo's feet. That's when he noticed several more droplets of blood.

Following them he found that they disappeared randomly in the center of the room. Leonardo fell to his knees, something was off about the final droplet; it was cut in half, as if the rest of it simply disappeared.

So, this room wasn't done keeping its secrets after all. Filled with new-found determination, Leonardo stabbed his katana into the grout of the tile where the rest of the droplet seemed to disappear and pried it up, revealing an entrance that lead underground.

* * *

Raphael and Michelangelo climbed their way up the east building, it was Leonardo's reasoning that they should infiltrate the academy from all angles. Though, Raphael didn't really understand the point of infiltrating the gym when they knew were Donatello was being kept. It would've been much quicker to head in together, kick some alien butt and take Donatello back.

The pair of turtles reached the top and collected their grappling hooks, winding them carefully before putting them away. The cool weather, the moonlight, the adrenaline, everything about this mission reminded Raphael of the night they'd lost Donatello. That was also the night he'd almost lost Michelangelo.

The memory of that terrible night still haunted him. Though he never voiced any of this to his brothers or father, he'd been having nightmares ever since. In the nightmare he was paralyzed, unable to do anything while his family was murdered right in front of him.

"Come on Raph." Michelangelo said calling Raphael back to the mission at hand.

Turning his attention toward his brother, he noticed the bruises left behind by Overkill. They were so clear against his baby brother's pale green face. The slow burn of rage began sparked within him. He wasn't about to let his nightmare become a reality.

The pair made their way toward a door leading to a stairwell and hurried inside. Determining that the area was safe, Raphael turned to Michelangelo. "You should stay here." He said.

Michelangelo turned a critical eye at his brother "What?" and after a small pause, Michelangelo laughed, his brother was telling a joke, a stupid one, but still. "Ha, Good one."

"I'm not kidding." Raphael said and Michelangelo's face dropped into a rare state of seriousness that made Raphael uncomfortable.

"Take a minute and think about what you are asking." Michelangelo challenged, "You want me to stay behind while you and Leo rescue  _our_ brother. You realize that's crazy, right?"

"Yeah, you're right." Raphael lamented, then drew a sai from his belt, "I'm not  _asking_." Raphael shoved Michelangelo, hard, against the wall behind them. Bringing down his sai, Raphael trapped Michelangelo's wrist between the tines, effectively pinning him to the wall so he couldn't move.

"Hey!" Michelangelo tried with all his might to yank the sai from the wall but wasn't strong enough. "What are you doing, Raph!"

"I'll come back for you after we save Donnie." He said, then turned on his heel, "You can hate me all you want but you are staying here." He said before hurrying down the stairs. It was worth being one sai short to ensure his brother's safety.

Raphael hurriedly made his way down to the bottom floor and found himself in, what he quickly discovered was not a gym, but an armory. And by the look of things, Evixus had more weapons than a small country. This only cemented the idea that leaving Michelangelo behind was a good one.

Raphael crossed the room and winced when he heard a small click as a result of his foot coming in contact with a pressure sensitive tile. Crap! Raphael looked down at his foot, in disbelief, as if the appendage had betrayed him.

If there was one thing movies taught him it was that lifting his foot or perhaps even adjusting his weight would result in a gruesome death of some sort. Raphael took a moment to think, he couldn't stay there all night and wait for someone to help him. No, he had to take a chance. He mustered all of his strength and courage before throwing his body to the left. Just as he'd suspected, lifting his foot off the tile triggered an explosion.

The power of the blast sent him flying into something hard and metallic, he'd have preferred to land against something softer but it was a small price to pay for his life.

His respite didn't last long because, as he discovered, the hard object he'd crashed into was a massive mechanized robot. The ten-foot-tall beast made Overkill look about as deadly as a sparkler as compared to the A-bomb.

Not only that, but located in the center of its body was the human body of an academy student. She didn't appear, to Raphael, to be one of the ones who had gone missing. The young teen was unconscious, a series of wires running from her forehead to her temple connected her to the robot, and it didn't take Raphael long to learn what this particular robot was run on. Brain energy. Apparently there was a lot more to Evixus' plan than any of them knew.

Giving Raphael, no time to dwell on it, the robot swept its hand across the room in an attempt to hit him. He jumped out of the way, grabbing hold of a suspension chain using his momentum to swing his body around to land on the robot's neck. He brought his sai down on something that looked important but it yielded no results. The robot's other arm came around, grabbed him and threw him across the room, his shell cracked the wall upon contact and he slid to the ground in a heap.

Raphael shook the stars from his eyes and pushed himself up off the ground. The robot jumped and landed right in front of him, giving him a better look at the student inside. Her eyes were open and as black as the night, tears ran down her cheek, she must've been in unimaginable pain.

Raphael made an attempt to rip away the wires, connecting her to the machine, with his sai but was stopped when the girl grabbed his wrist. Her strength was superhuman, she squeezed and the sai fell out of Raphael's hands, hitting the ground with a clang. Her smile seemed to cut her face in half like those creepy girls in horror movies.

The girl grabbed Raphael by the throat with her other hand and squeezed slowly. Raphael clawed at her fingers, trying in vain to free himself. She squeezed harder, his hand falling away as his body began giving out.

Just as Raphael began to black out a sai cut through the darkness, severing the wires along the girl's face. The robot shut down and the girl's body fell limply against him. Raphael wrapped his arms around the girl, rolling away with her just before the robot crashed to the ground. He glanced in the direction from which the sai had come and spotted Michelangelo on top of a stack of crates.

He didn't have time to wonder how Michelangelo had gotten free so quickly because the girl in his arms began to stir. She jumped away from Raphael and ripped the gun wielding arm from the robot's body. Giving Raphael no time to react, she fired. Michelangelo jumped down and sent a wave of shuriken into the bullets, each one exploding into nothingness upon impact.

The girl wasn't finished though, she turned her back and grabbed something from an open crate next to her. It was a small device with a timer attached. A bomb. She activated it and the timer began counting down, in seconds, from ten. The girl stalked toward Raphael like a ragdoll possessed by a demon.

Coming to the decision that there was no time to save her and get away, Raphael grabbed his brother's wrist pulling toward the nearest exit.

* * *

Slash and the others found themselves in a prefabricated warehouse, located just behind the main building. They watched from the suspended walkway as several armed robots stood guard around three box trucks. Compared to the Overkill twins, they'd just defeated, these guys would be a piece of cake. Slash turned toward his team "We need to see what is in those trucks. Leatherhead, you take the one on the left, Rockwell, you take the center truck and Casey and I will take the one on the right."

"No problem." Leatherhead said, "Let's put an end to this guy, once and for all."

"I concur." Rockwell said and the pair made their way across the walkway in silence.

Just as Slash and Casey where about to make their move, a loud explosion rang out from somewhere in the distance. Light flooded the warehouse bringing the attention of the robots upon them. "So much for stealth." Slash said before jumping down, landing on a robot, taking it out with his mace.

Casey shrugged, heck, maybe kicking some robot butt would cheer him up. "Goongala!" Casey jumped down hooking a robot just under its chin with the foot of his hockey stick. Giving one swift yank he was able to rip the robot's head clean off is shoulders. Casey's hands stung but he ignored the pain, it was a small price to pay to avenge April and Donatello.

Another robot fired a laser at him, hitting the side of the truck where it melted the thin metal away. "You missed, Tin Face, that's gonna cost ya." Casey pulled down his hockey mask and rush toward the robot, ramming the end of his hockey stick through the robot's metal stomach.

The Robot's body remained on the end of his hockey stick, proof of Casey's strength when he was tested. He kicked the body off and turned his attention to the hole in the truck. "Thanks for the window, pal."

Casey stood up on one of the tires and peered through the "window", careful not to touch the sides as it was still red with heat around the edges. Across from him, strapped along the inner wall were the missing students, the psychics of the Hivemind. They were all unresponsive but as far as he could tell they were all still alive.

Then he saw them. Strapped to medical tables, which were bolted to the floor of the truck, were Donatello and April. Despite the holes in their foreheads, Casey could see the steady rise and fall of their chests. Alive, as well. Good.

Before Casey could act, the truck pitched forward and he lost his footing. He fell toward the ground just as Leonardo emerged from the underground passage. Falling on top of Leonardo wasn't exactly the softest of landings but it beat the alternative: hard concrete. He climbed to his feet, watching as the truck exited the warehouse.

"Where the heck did you come from?" Casey asked. "No, not important. We gotta stop that truck, Donnie and April are inside." At that, Leonardo hurried after the truck.

Outside, an enormous magnetic disk lowered from the belly of a helicopter and lifted the truck off the ground. The hovering machine swayed at the added weight for a moment but adjusted quickly. Realizing he only had a few seconds, Leonardo tossed his grappling hook as hard as he could, it wrapped around the rear bumper.

Seconds later he found himself swinging from the end of a rope as the helicopter surged into the sky. This did nothing to phase the turtle and true to his nickname he fearlessly began climbing. The cold air blasted his face and he could feel his fingers grow numb at their tips but nothing would stop him from saving his brother.

A laser blast flew passed his head, disappearing into the night after missing him by mere inches. Looking toward the front of the truck he saw a robot hanging out of the driver's side door, laser gun in hand.

Nothing.

Leonardo, spurred on by the fact that he didn't want to get shot, climbed faster, expanding his reach as far as he could. A few more feet and he would be able to pull himself up and onto the truck.

The robot, fired again, this time grazing the rope above the defenseless turtle's head. Leonardo felt the rope jerk, giving way, as it began to unravel. And, just as his frozen fingertips grazed the underside of the bumper, the rope snapped.

Leonardo's decent seemed to be in slow motion as he was forced to watch the helicopter disappear into the night with its precious cargo,  _his_ precious cargo.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for all your support on the last chapter, it really means a lot to me, that you guys have responded so well to this story. I grew up watching 1984 TMNT then lost myself in anime, so I'm still catching up on the 2003 and 2012 versions. Because of that I felt like I had no business writing for this fandom.


	12. Hive

* * *

" _Welcome to the Hive" a disembodied voice said. "In this place, you can leave your painful past behind and have the life you've always wanted." the voice continued, "Ah, I see… so this is what your heart desires… A whole Family and never-ending friendships." the voice said. "Wake up and this is the world that you shall have."_

April woke up in a haze of disorientation. She was lying on something soft, a bed? She sat up and noticed that she was in her bedroom. But was that right? She had the feeling that she was supposed to be somewhere else, with someone else. April munched down on the side of her finger, trying to conjure up a memory.

Just when the memory was on the verge of revealing itself a shrill sound cut through the silence, causing the memory to fall away. April turned toward the culprit, her tablet was buzzing with sound, signifying that she should get ready for school. "Calm down, April, it was just a dream." April said, then grabbed her tablet and shut off the alarm before getting out of bed.

Using the light from her tablet, April went to her closet and changed into her Springhill Academy uniform, then headed to the bathroom to finish her morning routine.

"April, Irma's here!" April let her hands fall from her newly formed ponytail as she recognized the voice as her mom's. April quickly hurried down to the kitchen and froze when she saw her mom standing there, next to Irma.

"Mom?" April didn't want to move out of fear that her mom would somehow vanish if she did. April felt a wave of sadness run through her, stabbing her at her core. Why did it feel like she hadn't seen her mom in years? The ache finally gave April the power to move so she crossed the room to wrap her mom up in a tight hug. April buried her nose in her mom's shirt, taking in a slow breath. She smelled like fresh laundry and cookies.

"April, sweetie, are you alright?" Mrs. O'Neal asked rubbing April's back as she returned the hug.

Hearing the concern in her mom's voice made April realize that she was acting strange. "Yeah, I just had a bad dream… it freaked me out." April said.

"That's what you get for eating pizza before bed." She said, placing a hand on April's head the way she did when April was a little girl. Another pang of sadness. April ignored this one and let her mom go.

"Uh-oh." Irma said. "You only eat pizza when you have a big scoop for the school paper. What is it this time?"

"I'm hoping to dig up dirt on just where the football team got the money to pay for their new uniforms by siphoning off funds from the art department." April said.

"Scandalous." Irma teased. "See that's why I write the advice column. I don't have your superpower." She said.

"It's not a super power." Irma was referring to the way April always managed to be really good at exposing the truth. "I'm just at the right place at the right time." She said then turned toward her mom again, "wish me luck, that Mr. Thompson lets me run with this story."

"Good Luck." Mrs. O'Neal said

* * *

April walked along side Irma, on their way to school, only to be interrupted by a voice coming from the alley they'd just passed. April came to an abrupt stop and wandered down the alley before Irma even noticed she was gone.

"You tell that little punk to get the money or we'll get it from his dad's insurance polity… No, idiot, we'll torch his dad's store." The man paused, "Yes exactly, then he'll have enough money to pay his debt."

Upon closer inspection, April saw a rather large man talking on his cell phone, a purple dragon tattoo wrapped around his thick arm. He was part of the most notorious gang in New York, the aptly named, Purple Dragons.

Deciding that getting wrapped up in gang activity would shorten her lifespan significantly, April backed up. Unfortunately, the back of her foot came in contact with an empty soda can, it bounced away with a metallic sound, alerting the gang member to her presence. Luckily, he hadn't spotted her, though with nowhere to go she didn't know why she counted that as being lucky.

The gang member's thick boots stomped as he came toward her, any moment and she'd be discovered. April was about to resign herself to her fate when a tabby cat jumped to the top of the dumpster with a loud thud. "Meow!"

"Stupid cats." April heard the gang member say as the sound of his boots became distant.

After a few minutes April stood up from her crouched position and pet the cat. "My hero." She said, teasing the tag on the cat's collar up so she could read his name. "Thank you, Klunk."

Suddenly, the cat's ears perked up and it took off out of the alley, chasing after some unseen fiend. April watched him leave and was struck by a strong sense of familiarity coming from her surroundings. She'd been in this alley before.

Visions swirled around in her head, colorful patterns, memories that she'd forgotten, fighting hard to be remembered. April followed the ghostly visions until she heard a thump beneath her feet, she looked down and discovered that she was standing on a manhole cover. Something stabbed at her heart and that ache that she felt this morning was back. "What the heck is wrong with me today?" she asked.

"April!" Irma's sudden voice startled April back to reality and she looked toward the entrance of the alley, catching her best friend wearing an annoyed expression. "What are you doing? I turn around and you were gone, come on we're gonna be late."

* * *

Irma and April made it to their journalism class with five minutes to spare and both took their seats as they waited for the bell to signify the start of a new day.

Mr. Thompson stood at the head of the class, "It's the first Wednesday of the month and you guys know what that means. Who wants to pitch me their story first?"

"Oh, I do, Mr. Thompson." Said Springhill's resident douchebag and April's arch rival for the head reporter position, Vernon Fenwick.

"Alright, Vernon." Mr. Thompson said. "Tell me what'cha got."

"I want to cover the football team." He said and April sat up in her seat. "But my main focus for the story is how they were able to afford their new uniforms thanks to the art department." April's jaw dropped, how the heck had Vernon managed to scoop her story? She bristled.

"Good, run with that." Mr. Thompson said. "April, you had your hand up as well, what's your pitch?"

"I um…" April floundered. "I don't have one..." April admitted in defeat.

"Again? I'm beginning to wonder if this class is just some sort of joke to you." Mr. Thompson took a deep breath to calm his nerves. "I warned you, now I'm going to have to remove you from this course."

April jumped out of her seat in surprise. "Wait, No! Please, Mr. Thompson, give me another chance." April said. "I swear, this class is my life."

Mr. Thompson paused for a moment, lost in thought, and a slow smile crept onto his features. "Okay. I have an assignment for you, complete it and you can stay in the class." April didn't like the tone of his voice but she nodded anyway.

"The all-county science fair is in one week and, Donatello, one of Springhill's very own students is favored to win the grand prize. I would like you to get an exclusive interview with him."

"That's it?" April asked. "All I have to do is one interview and I can stay in the class?" she reiterated.

"It won't be as easy as you think" Mr. Thompson said, "This student is very private about his project, you are the only reporter in the class he hasn't turned down."

April scoffed, there wasn't anyone she couldn't make talk. This would be a piece of cake. "I'll do it." She said. "And I would also like to be the first to pitch a story next month." She added. Take that Vernon.

"Deal." He said and it was apparent to April that he didn't think she could do it. She'd show him. Interviews were the easy part, you just had to be persistent, plus it helped that pestering someone wasn't grounds for a restraining order.

April sat back down as Mr. Thompson moved on to his other reporters, but no sooner had her butt hit the chair than a voice came over the loud speaker, calling April to the office. April rolled her eyes to the string of Ooo's coming from her classmates as she left the classroom.

April made her way to the office and took a seat just outside the Headmaster's office, the door was ajar, allowing her to hear the conversation coming from within.

"You don't understand, I was framed."

That voice. April leaned in closer, where had she heard that voice before?

"So you didn't set the lab on fire?" the headmaster said

"Well, technically, I did but…" the voice paused, April figured the headmaster was giving his signature my-hand-goes-up-your-mouth-goes-shut gesture.

"I should have you expelled but you have the highest academic marks at this school so I won't." He said. "However, I expect you to go to detention every day for a week and the lab is off limits to you for the rest of the year."

"Yes, sir." The student said defeated, April wondered why he wasn't standing up for himself. It was obvious that there was more to his story.

"Yes, sir." The door few open and April disguised the fact that she'd overheard them by scrolling through a random app on her tablet. The student sighed and April looked up at him and the world seemed to stop.

The mutant turtle standing in front of her took her breath away. He was tall and thin but April could tell that he was also pretty strong. He wore purple which brought out the flecks of gold in his chocolate colored eyes. He caught her staring at him and blushed before hurrying out of the office.

"April, please come in here." The headmaster said, at some point he'd made his way to the door and held it open for her. April went inside and was anxious, what could she have possibly done to warrant a trip to the office? "Have a seat." April sat down while the headmaster made his way around to his own seat.

"Don't you think you should have given him a chance to explain himself?" April regretted asking the question immediately as it gave up the fact that she'd been listening in. She couldn't help it, it was in her nature as an aspiring reporter to ask questions. To uncover the cold hard truth.

"I am going to pretend I didn't hear that, Ms. O'Neal." He said. "Eavesdropping is a serious offence. Need I remind you that you are on thin ice after that report you made last year." She flinched, the headmaster was referring to her article about the coach bribing the teachers to give the football players passing grades. "I took a lot of heat from the parents for that little stunt."

"I know sir." April said, grimacing inwardly at the memory. She'd been telling the truth but the proof of her claims were stolen and her article was deemed "Fake News".

"I had to pull a lot of strings to get you into the journalism program this year." The headmaster said, and April could see the wheels turning in his mind. "In fact, that gives me an idea." He said. "I called you in here to volunteer for an assignment but as it stands I don't think I have to ask."

"I... guess not." April said, feeling uneasy

"I knew you'd see it my way." He said, "For a while now, the Mr. Hamato the philosophy teacher has been asking if he can establish a martial arts club. I finally decided to let him because of Springhill's apparent discipline problem." He said and April got the impression that he was talking about the student who'd just left. "In short, I would like for you to be Mr. Hamato's teaching assistant."

* * *

After school, April made her way to the fourth floor, where all the afterschool programs were hosted and found Mr. Hamato's class room. When she walked through the door the half human half rodent teacher smiled softly at her. He gave off an air of wisdom that made April feel both welcome and unworthy to be in his presence.

"Are you Mr. Hamato?" she asked.

"I am, but you may refer to me as Splinter." He said.

"Alright, Splinter." April paused when his name past her lips, finding it nostalgic for some reason.

"You must be April my T.A." She nodded, "you write for the school paper, correct?" he asked.

"Yes."

"Why?" he asked

Why? April had to pause, no one had ever asked her that before, nor had she ever thought to explore it. "I don't know, I guess I like to make people face the truth."

"I see." He said, stroking his beard with one pawed hand "And do you think it's helpful to force people to "face the truth", as you put it?"

"Well, yeah, I mean, sure it's painful but it sets people free." She said.

"Hmm, and do you think it's fair to force people to see the truth when you, yourself refuse to do see it?"

"What do you mean?" April asked.

"Only, you can answer that." He said, opening the door for them. Leave it to the philosophy teacher to say something cryptic and leave it open to interpretation.

A knock came at the door, causing both April and Splinter to look up. "Mr. Hamato? I'm here for…" he sighed, "detention." April recognized the turtle as Leonardo, Springhill Academy's shining star. April wondered how someone such as he ended up in detention.

"I am aware of that." Splinter says. "I know the headmaster only gave me this opportunity because he hoped that I would use martial arts as a form of punishment." He said. "However, I'm positive that you and the others will find that it's so much more than that. You might even find it enlightening." He said, but April got the feeling that the last bit was directed towards her.

"Oh, this is rich, look who's here." A gruff voice interrupted them and April's eyes widened at the sight of Raphael, whose reputation was as bad as they came. He wasn't someone you wanted to mess with lest you wanted to end up in the hospital. "Lame-o-nardo, in detention." Raphael said. "Never thought I'd see the day. Welcome to the dark side, Teacher's Pet, you here for the sex, drugs and devil worshipping?"

"Hardly, Riff- _Raph_." Leonard spat, "I'm surprised to see a deadbeat like you here. I figured you've been upgraded to prison by now." April winced, was Leonardo trying to commit suicide by ass-kicking just because he got detention?

"You know what…" Raphael cracked his knuckles and made his way toward Leonardo, who made no move to back down despite Raphael's obvious weight advantage. "Someone ought'a take you down a few pegs and I'm just the turtle for the job."

"Chill, Raph." An orange clad turtle filed into the room shoving the Raphael and Leonardo apart in one fell swoop. "Not in front of the lady." He smiled before taking Aprils hand in his. "Nice to meet you, I am Michelangelo but you can call me Mikey." He said and wiggled his eyebrows. April giggled and just like that the tension in the room was gone.

"I'm April." She said. "I'm a journalist."

"Like you write in a diary every day?" Michelangelo asked.

"No, Mikey, a journalist writes for a newspaper or some other news outlet." April turned her attention toward the door. It was him, the turtle from the office. He gave her an adorable gap-toothed smile and April felt that familiar pain again. "I saw you in the office earlier." He said then extended his hand. "My name's Donatello."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There you have it, a little long and out there but I hope you enjoyed it all the same.
> 
> Thank you for the support on the last chapter, you guys are the best.
> 
> And if you feel like sharing (cuz I have no one to talk to about this) what do you think of the new TMNT 2018, not sure how I feel about Raph being team leader? He's my fav but as a writer and knowing his character, I don't really see how it can work. Thoughts?
> 
> As always, leave a comment if you are so inclined and I have a beautiful day.


	13. Sphere

Four teens sat on a rollout tatami mat in the center of the classroom as Splinter paced in front of them. "Unlike the traditional form of detention, you won't be sitting here waiting for time to pass. We are going to do something productive and it will require hard work."

April noted the way Donatello and Leonardo sat, both were uninterested but obedient, with a sort of a grin and bear it mentality. Raphael was slightly hunched over, detention wasn't anything new to him; he couldn't care less about what Splinter was saying. Michelangelo, on the other hand, was enthusiastic, more so about the person he was texting than with what Splinter was saying though.

April's attention shifted back to Splinter, he stood still but April could see the wheels turning behind his rodent eyes. Then he made his move. In one swift movement, he used his tail to grab his walking stick, bringing it to his hand in an instant. With the flick of his wrist he tapped the tip of the stick beneath Michelangelo's phone, knocking it out of his hand.

The action was so fast that it took Michelangelo a few seconds to realize his phone was even gone. "Hey!"

Leonardo's mouth was open wide in awe at what he'd just witnessed. "Amazing."

Splinter turned his head toward Leonardo and quirked an eyebrow. "How much of that could you see?" he asked.

"All of it." Leonardo said. "How did you do that so fast?"

"That is not important. It is more impressive that you could see my actions." He said. "I'm curious, have you taken martial arts before?"

"No, I've always been interested in it but the only sport I am allowed to participate in is tennis." Leonardo admitted, "My father thinks that fighting is boorish."

"Could you be more stuck up?" Raphael said. "My father this, my father that," he mocked, "Grow a pair." He said. "You've always been like this. Since we were kids." At that Raphael fell silent, it was as if he'd let something slip that he hadn't meant to.

"Um…" Michelangelo started, breaking the tension with the mere reminder of his presence, "Could I have my phone back?" Splinter shook his head. "man…" Michelangelo whined but didn't protest any further.

"Are you still upset about that?" Leonardo asked. "It was a million years ago. Our friendship wouldn't have lasted anyway."

"Yeah, because you're weak!" Raphael said, "Of course tennis is the only sport you can play, you aren't physically strong enough to play football, like me."

"Oh? And physical strength is important?" Splinter asked, trying to draw the topic back on track.

"Well, yeah." Raphael said. "No one can get past me, I'm all muscle, baby." He said, and to emphasize his point he flexed.

"Is that so?" Splinter asked. "Okay. Prove it." he said, pointing at Raphael and Leonardo respectively. "Step forward." He waited for them to do so and made his way over to Leonardo so he could whisper something in his ear.

Leonardo nodded with understanding then froze, April read a mixture of fear and excitement behind his blue eyes. Splinter stepped aside, joining April. "Raphael, attack Leonardo." He said.

"With pleasure." Raphael said, cracking his knuckles before meeting Leonardo in the center of the mat. "You've been asking for this for a long time, rich boy."

Raphael thrust his fist forward and with all the power he put behind it, April was sure he'd kill Leonardo, had the punch landed. But it didn't, instead Leonardo stepped aside, causing Raphael to stumble forward.

Raphael quickly regained his footing and turned back but before he could attempt another attack, Leonardo ducked down and swept his leg across the mat, bringing Raphael to the ground.

"What the shell?" Raphael said. "No friggin' way." He pushed himself up, ignoring the hand that Leonardo offered to help him up. "What did he tell you?"

"He said that I was supposed to let you attack me and rely on my instincts." Leonardo said, "but I'm still not sure how I was able to do that."

"You are a natural, Leonardo, with training you could become a martial arts master." Splinter said, then turned to Raphael. "I can sense that your power comes from a place of good, a need for survival, I can help you channel that anger into something useful."

"What about us?" Michelangelo said, "That was really epic, what can you teach me and the D-man?" he asked, slinging an arm over Donatello's shoulders.

"Please stop calling me that." Donatello said. "Taken out of context it could have an entirely new meaning, a meaning I don't want to be associated with." He said, April let out a small giggle and noticed the small color change on the turtle's cheeks as she did.

"I can teach all of you to be better versions of yourselves." He said. "You will learn to be a team, you will form strong bonds that will last a lifetime. Bonds that will last beyond time and space." He said. "If you aren't interested then you may take a seat at a desk and remain quiet for the next half hour." He paused, "but if you are then training begins right now."

"I'm interested." Leonardo said.

"Me too." Raphael and Michelangelo said in unison.

It took Donatello a few extra moments of contemplating before he gave his answer but he, too was interested.

Then, Splinter turned toward April, "What about you?"

"Me?" April gazed upon the turtles as they sat respectfully in front of Splinter, the scene was more than familiar, in fact, it was nostalgic and more palpable than the other feelings she'd had that day. "Yeah, I'm interested too." She said.

"Good." Splinter said and gestured to a space on the mat next to Donatello, where April took a seat. "We'll start with meditation."

"Mediation? I thought we were gonna learn to train to be better fighters." Raphael complained.

"You are, but without a clear mind, you will lack the focus required to train under my guidance." He paused for a second after catching April's eye. "I am, however, going to teach you something that I normally save for the final lesson of mediation. Obtaining your Spiritual Symbol." He said.

"What's that?" April asked, as he seemed to be directing his speech toward April, specifically.

"It is a symbol that is unique to everyone, it is what encompasses your very being, who you are in the spiritual world."

"Like a soul?" April asked.

"Something like that." He said. "Are you all ready?" he asked, and continued after he'd received a collective nod from his students. "Close your eyes and focus on your breathing. In and then out." He said.

Focusing on Splinter's voice April did as he instructed and after a while began to feel lightheaded. Something pulled at her spirit, yanking it from her body. April opened her eyes at the odd sensation only to discover that a yellow sphere was hovering just outside of her reach. She looked toward Donatello only to discover that he and the other turtles were in a state of suspended animation.

"A sphere." Splinter said drawing April's attention back on him. "Your Spirit Symbol, represents completeness, unity, equality and acceptance." He said.

"Splinter, what's going on?" April asked.

"Take hold of your sphere and all will be revealed." He said.

April cupped the sphere in both hands. The moment her fingers came in contact with it, her memories came rushing back all at once. In an instant she remembered everything: Losing her power, losing faith in the team, her betrayal… her new-found feelings for Donatello.

"This world, in which you now find yourself is merely an illusion created by your insecurities and deepest fears. Everything about this new world is designed to give you comfort so that you will remain here." Splinter said. "I have traveled across the astral plane in order to tell you to leave this foolish simulation of yours."

"Stop." April said. "even if this world isn't real, I can live a normal life and so can your sons. We all have possibilities here, my mom's here, I can go to the prom with Donnie, I can dance at Leo's wedding, or hang out with Raph and Mikey at the skate park."

"April, your team needs you. Your real brothers." Splinter said, "Think about what your symbol represents. They are incomplete without you."

"That's not true. They are fine without me." April admitted. "I am unnecessary and no matter how much I train or how much I want it, I will never measure up. Sooner or later they'll see that and leave me behind. I'll be alone again…" April brought a hand to her mouth. There it was. Her true fear.

"April." Splinter said, kneeling down to place a gentle hand on her shoulder, "my sons would never abandon you. You gave them acceptance when they needed it, they will extend the same courtesy to you." He said.

"Acceptance?"

"Yes." Splinter said. "It isn't lost on me that my sons think themselves monsters. On the path they started on, it was only a matter of time before their loneliness got the better of them. Everything changed when they met you. You gave them hope that they would one day fit into world above. It is because of you that they became a team." He said. "You five are linked together by the strings of fate."

At those words, April felt a tug at the sphere in her hands, a yellow string appeared, connecting her heart to the Sphere. She felt another tug, this time, as a blue string connected to the sphere, followed by red, then orange, and finally purple. April watched as each color faded into the center of the sphere where they released an explosion of color.

"Reclaim your real life, April. Right your wrongs, because no matter how bad things get you can always come home." Splinter said before vanishing.

April drew the Sphere toward her body, hugging it as close to her as possible. She wanted to go home, she was ready. She couldn't let herself be run by fear anymore. April and the Turtles had formed an unbreakable bond and were linked together forever. The sphere sank into April's body and she passed out from the sheer about of energy of the action.

* * *

April gasped, her eyes snapped open violently and her head stung as her consciousness collided with the harsh reality of her true world.

Fighting against her pain she tried to figure out where she was, the way her breath bounced back against her face as she breathed told her that she was in a confined space. Once the haziness of sleep dissipated, she noticed that there was a small window in front of her, through it, she could see the supercomputer from the heist.

April tested her arms, they were weighed down by several wires as they coiled around her like thin snakes. Clawing her fingers through them she managed to free her hand. Her head was pounding, the pain was the worse around her temples. She reached up and discovered that two thick wires were imbedded in her temples, one on each side.

April wanted to panic but decided against it, she had to do something more productive, like get out of her prison. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes, with one swift yank removed the wires from her temples. "Agh!" April hissed, the pain was immense but she couldn't give in to it as this could be her only chance to escape.

With the brain wires gone, April set about removing other wires around her body. Hopefully removing them wouldn't set off an alarm. She yanked them away and kicked forward, the door to the chamber opened and she swam free of the sea of wires. She took a step out of the chamber only to come crashing down on the cold floor.

She was naked and cold and her body was numb from non-use. Just how long had she been trapped in there? She let out a growl of frustration and began pushing herself up off the ground, using a pillar in front of her to climb to her feet. When she was standing she noticed that it wasn't a pillar at all but another chamber. With someone inside.

Donatello.

April thumped her palms against the window, "Donnie! Wake up." She yanked on the handle but it wouldn't budge. "Oh my god, Donnie, please, open your eyes. We have to get out of here." She pleaded but he remained unconscious. Giving up, April placed her forehead against the glass in defeat. "Please, Donnie…I love you."

The sound of footsteps pulled April away from the chamber, she must've set of a silent alarm. "Donnie, I swear, I'll come back for you." She said and pushed away from the chamber, falling to the ground again, her legs still not up for strenuous activity. Luckily, as she landed she saw a pile of her clothes. On top of the pile sat Donatello's mask, she grabbed the stack of clothes and got dressed.

She looked down at Donatello's mask and made a vow, tying her hair up with it. It was a vow that she would return it to him once she'd freed him. And she would free him, no matter what it took. Even if it meant facing Leonardo.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow, this chapter was a doozy. I had to stop myself from writing more about that alternate world of April's. (Maybe I'll write a separate story set in that world). Anyway, what did you think?
> 
> See you in the next chapter, where April will have a ton of fun escaping the enemy compound only to discover that New York isn't exactly the way she'd left it.


	14. Vision

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> April makes a daring escape but her work is far from over. She must face her greatest rival in the spirit world.

* * *

As the footsteps drew nearer, April had a chance to take in her surroundings, it was a good thing the supercomputer generated its own light. Through the violet glow of the machine, she could see just how massive it had become since the last time she'd seen it.

From her vantage point, she could see that the computer was made up of several rows of cabinets, each one probably holding enough processors to feed the Hivemind for decades.

She crawled down to one end of the aisle and was shocked by what she'd discovered. As it turned out, her and Donatello's chambers weren't the only ones in the room. Attached to the end of each row of cabinets was a chamber containing a psychic student. April felt a sense of shame over her selfishness, of wanting to stay in the alternate world when these students, her classmates, needed her.

April's thoughts where interrupted when the footsteps finally came to a halt just beyond the door. She picked up on bits of a two sided conversation as one fumbled with the lock on the door.

"This is a waste of time." A mam said, his voice hesitant. "No one could get out of those chambers, even if they did manage to wake up." He said.

"Quit your complaining, we are under direct orders from Evixus to make sure the Hivemind remains operational." The other voice said. "Look, if we split up it shouldn't take that long."

"Crap." April breathed, there was nowhere for her to hide. If they searched the room from both ends, she'd be caught for sure.

April butted up against one of the cabinets and called upon her power, she could feel the electricity of it leaving her mind only to fizzle out before returning with a snap, like a rubber band. She hissed, it was no good.

Her only other option was a physical fight, but if that was going to work she'd need the element of surprise. Glancing in the direction she had come, April came up with a cringeworthy plan.

The hesitant guard entered first and shuffled toward one end of the supercomputer while his friend took the other. He lazily swung his flashlight down each aisle and gave a yawn. "There's nothing here. Maybe it was a computer error."

"This computer doesn't make errors. It's gotta be something to do with the chambers in the back." The proud guard said, "check them."

"Why do I have to do it? That monster really creeps me out." The hesitant guard said. "What the heck even is it?"

"A turtle, I think." The proud guard answered. "Anyway, you're the one who said no one could escape."

"Yeah well, that  _thing_  isn't human."

The pair continued their conversation as the hesitant guard stepped up to Donatello's chamber to check on him. He shined his flashlight through the glass and jumped slightly at Donatello's unresponsive face. "The monster is still there." He said.

"Well good, then check the other one and let's go."

The hesitant guard turned his attention toward April's chamber, she was there, sleeping soundly. He was going to give the all clear until he saw the purple headband in her hair, which drew his attention to the fact she was no longer "plugged" in. "I found the source, she must've pulled the wires free."

"I knew it, happens all the time, just a muscle spasm." The proud guard said, "Hurry up and reattach her."

The hesitant guard went to open April's door and her eyes snapped open, startling him. "What the-!?" April didn't give him the chance to finish his sentence as she pushed the door open with as much strength as she could gather. Calling Donatello a monster multiple times was going to cost him. The door hit him in the face, breaking his nose, and he fell to the ground in an unconscious heap.

The proud guard came around the corner just as April stepped out of her chamber. "I don't know how you managed to escape the Hive but you won't get any further." He said, jabbing his heavy flashlight at her.

April jumped back slightly to get out of range. "You don't have to do this. Whatever Evixus has told you is untrue, let me go and I can save everyone from his hold." April lifted her hands defensively, it was a small shift in her stance, not easily noticeable to a nonfighter, ready to stop the flashlight's assault if need be.

"You misunderstand." He said, "You seem to think that we are all being held captive, when in truth, it's quite the opposite."

April gestured toward the supercomputer, "The way I see it, those students are being held against their will."

"Oh, yes a chosen few, including you and that monster, must donate their minds to the cause, but it is a noble sacrifice." He replied. Easy for him to say since he wasn't one of the "chosen", April mused.

"Evixus offers to share his vast knowledge of the cosmos with us. It is freedom, not captivity." He continued, "You claim you want to save everyone, then get back in your chamber."

April glared, she wasn't getting anywhere with this guy. "I can't." She took a tentative step forward and he whipped the flashlight at her, April ducked and grabbed him around the middle before thrusting her body upward, the guard flipped over her shoulder and landed, headfirst into her chamber, "it's occupied." She slammed the door shut just as he lost consciousness.

Now, that was over, she quickly began searching the hesitant guard's body for anything she could use as a weapon. In her current state of fatigue, she was lucky she'd managed to take down these two guards. Who knew how many more guards there were, adrenaline only got you so far. She needed a plan.

Splaying out what she'd gathered in front of her she bit her lip, a lighter, a flashlight with batteries, and some shoe laces. Slim pickings. She glanced up at Donatello's face. "What do I do with these Donnie?" she asked, knowing he couldn't answer.

She stared down at her supplies and gasped as a distant memory entered her mind, it was as if Donatello was answering her question after all.

" _Check this out, April." Donatello said, gesturing for April to stand behind a window of shatter proof glass. She looked on as he secured a BIC lighter, upside-down, to the wall using duct tape. He flicked it on and hurried to join her behind the glass._

_After a few moments the lighter exploded with a loud pop. The lighter's plastic casing slammed against the glass before landing on the floor. "It's an IED." He explained proudly._

" _An improvised Explosive Device, really, Donnie?" April asked, she wasn't too sure she wanted Donatello messing around with such things. He should be disarming bombs and preventing explosions, not creating them (at least not on purpose)._

" _Don't worry, I am studying the basic principle of them to see if I can integrate them into the lair's defense systems. This is a relatively small IED, mostly good as a diversion." He said, "What you do is break the lighter so the fluid can seep out. Then secure it upside down to a wall or something. Eventually the flame will melt the casing and when it does… Boom." He said._

That was it, April thought. If she could amplify the explosion with the batteries from the flashlight then she might be able to escape without being seen. But first, she needed to find a weak point in the room, since she only had one shot at this, it had to count. Glancing around at the smooth surface of the concrete walls surrounding her, she grew certain that the wall wasn't going to yield to escape attempts.

Drip. Drip. Drip.

Running water? April followed the sound of the dripping to its source and found a small drainage pipe in the corner of the room. It was collecting runoff from the Supercomputer's cooling system. The drain was only about the size of a soccer ball so there was no way she'd fit. At least not yet.

April grabbed the lighter and rigged it the way Donatello had shown her, then added the batteries, she tied the IED together with the shoelaces so that the lighter was upside down. She used the rest of the flashlight to pry the drain open so that the IED would fit inside.

She turned on the lighter and lowered it into the drain, keeping hold of the shoelace, while gaining distance. After a few moments the bomb went off, sending bits of floor flying everywhere. April dropped the string and was gone before the smoke cleared.

April dropped down into the drain and pulled herself through the slime covered tunnel, all the while fighting off claustrophobia. The tunnel was so dark that she cursed at herself for not bringing the second flashlight. She shimmed through the darkness a few more feet before placing her hand on what she thought was solid ground only to pitch forward, falling into an aqueduct.

It swept her away with such power and speed that April was having a hard time keeping up. She choked and tried to claw her way to the surface but should couldn't tell which way was up. Panic took hold of her and she gasped, allowing water to fill her lungs. It burned, people often said that drowning was a peaceful way to die, they had no idea what they were talking about.

Finally, the pipe let out, releasing April into the cold, unforgiving arms of the Hudson River. April drifted to the surface, the current wasn't as strong as the aqueduct, but in her weakened state she found it hard to fight it. Eventually, she washed up on the soggy riverbank.

April, unable to fight off her exhaustion any longer, was about to give her body over to the inviting embrace of sleep, when she heard the voice of Splinter "April."

April lifted her head slightly and watched as her beloved sensei, shrouded in a blue light, took careful, purposeful steps toward her. "Master Splinter. I did it. I escaped."

"You did well." He said. "But, escaping was only the first step in your spiritual journey." He sank down next to her and placed a soothing hand on her back, "You rely on your power to give you a sense of purpose, but your power is something you can do, it is not who you are. It is a dam, blocking your spiritual path. Run like water, find a way around, adapt and flow like a river, let nothing block your path."

"What do you mean?" April asked, but she was so tired she wasn't sure she'd actually said it out loud.

"Rest now." He soothed. "For when you awaken you will face your greatest opponent."

* * *

April woke up in a familiar dream scape, just in time for Tidal Wave's drill like arms to come crashing down upon them. And just like last time, as the Turtles leapt to safety, April slipped from the ledge. She held on tightly as the dream replayed itself up to the point where Leonardo called her dead weight.

After Leonardo ditched her, April managed to pull herself up and over the ledge and readied herself to follow the Turtles. That is until the rest of the city was enveloped in a thick fog, leaving only the lone building upon which she stood. "Guys! Wait for me, don't leave me behind!" she called, but only her echo called back.

"Pathetic." April turned around to face the owner of the voice and narrowed her eyes.

"Karai." April said.

A legion of foot soldiers emerged from the fog until she was surrounded on all sides. April reached around for her tessen but it wasn't where it should be.

"Looking for this?" Karai asked, fanning out the metal fan before grazing a finger over its sharp edge. "Someone with telekinesis doesn't need a weapon like this." She said.

"Give that back." April ordered.

"This was never meant for you." Karai said. "all of the things you have, belong to me. Splinter is my father and those Turtles are my brothers. You've had enough fun playing my replacement, but now it's time for you to learn your place."

Karai rushed at April, tessen held perfectly in her dainty hands, the foot soldiers keeping a tight ring about the two of them. There was no escape. The foot clan's princess swiped the tessen at April's face, letting her hear the familiar whistle it made. The weapon may have been meant for Karai but it was April's now and it called to her.

April sank down into the splits, narrowly avoiding losing the tip of her nose, then, flipped over before sweeping her body across in a failed attempt to trip Karai. Even though she missed, she was able to gain some distance from the deadly kunoichi.

"You'll never be as good as I am." Karai said. "You are weak and pathetic." She pulled a few shuriken from a pouch behind her and tossed them perfectly, April took three swift jumps back as the sharp stars landed at her feet in rapid succession.

Karai stalked toward April, ever the predator. "You're a fool to think that my brothers actually care about you." Karai jumped at April and twisted the redhead around, holding her from behind. "There's only one reason why you are still around," Karai held the tessen up against April's throat. "You are a placeholder."

_Let nothing block your path._

"Like water. Adapt and flow." April whispered before reaching behind Karai to grab the handle of her tanto knife. Finding it, April pulled it free of his holster, cutting Karai's side in the process.

Karai released her and April turned around, meeting Karai face to face. "I am a proud member of the Hamato Clan and I won't let you tell me that I'm not good enough, I won't let you call me weak, you won't block my path anymore!" April screamed, thrusting the tanto knife through Karai's chest.

The princess of the Foot Clan stumbled back, knife still embedded in her flesh, blood spilling from her pink lips as they formed a peaceful smile. Then Karai's body melted away and reconstituted into another version of April.

"It's me." April said, "I was the one telling myself that I wasn't good enough."

At that revelation, April's dream scape melted away and she found herself standing on the bank of the Hudson once more.

"I'm proud of you, April." Splinter said, apparently, he'd never left her side. He placed at single shuriken in her hand, "There are five pedals on the Hamato crest, one for each member of the clan." He said. "Join together as one and defeat Evixus."

"Hai, Sensei." April bowed, and Splinter melted away.


	15. Altered

 

* * *

Master Splinter never did anything without reason, there was always a lesson to teach, some aspect of the warrior code, Bushido, to impart. These lessons came easy for Leonardo, the epitome of what it means to be a fighter, a true warrior’s spirit. But for Donatello it was different, he knew the teachings, of course. He could recite the code of conduct from memory, but that’s all it was, a string of words with no real feeling behind them. Master Splinter used to say, “No my son, you do not know the code by heart, but by head.”

For Master Splinter, becoming a true ninja warrior meant more than memorization, it meant internalizing his teachings and becoming the one with them. Over time Splinter’s lessons branched into more complex ideas like philosophy, morality and ethics. But no addition to the curriculum frustrated or intrigued Donatello more than the spiritual aspect. Spirituality wasn’t tangible, it couldn’t be explained or tested by science, and it went against everything Donatello knew.

Still, Donatello was determined to master his father’s teachings. _Makoto_ is a tenet of bushido, A warrior must have integrity, when they say they will perform an action, it is as good as done. So, it was with strict discipline and perseverance that Donatello was able to create a bridge between his mind and spirit. This bridge existed as a multi-monitor workstation, housing every memory, feeling, formula and fact he’d ever collected.

The workstation’s precious information, much to Evixus’ chagrin, was protected by the strongest firewall Donatello could imagine. This lead to the alien manifesting themselves within the machine in order to search for a way through the wall. They were growing tired of games, never before had a mind been this out of their reach.

With ever increasing frustration Evixus’ search brought him to a jagged hole in the firewall, the edges of which had been melted away by a dark violet acid of some kind. Whatever was stored on the other side of this part of the wall was eating away at Donatello’s defenses. _Interesting_ , Evixus stepped through the hole, careful to avoid the acid as it threatened to drip on him.

Hanging in the darkness of an infinite void was a lonely picture frame, its borders worn away by the billows of dense fog that wafted from its core. From experience, Evixus knew that a memory was contained within the frame, though this was the first time the alien had seen one spewing such negative energy. This intrigued Evixus greatly and so he stood before it and let the scene play out.

 **_“Stay away from me!”_ ** _April yelled, behind her was the torn cage where her mutated father was briefly kept. **“I never want to see your faces again!”**_

The video skipped ahead a few weeks.

_“April.” Donatello said desperately, “It wasn’t completely our fault but I’m sorr-”_

**_“Not as sorry as I am. I wanna be left alone, Donnie. No more talking mutants in my life! I NEVER want to see you again.”_ **

A small wisp of negative energy wafted from the memory and danced around the hole in the firewall encouraging the acid to work faster. A thought struck Evixus, with a little more encouragement this memory could lead to the firewall’s complete destruction. Evixus originally wanted to avoid sending Donatello the Hive as it had the potential to do irreversible harm to his brain; but as the humans say “Desperate times call for desperate measures.”

* * *

 The sound of quick desperate open palm thrusts against a pane of glass yanked Donatello from the throes of unconsciousness. He opened his eyes and was grateful to see that Michelangelo was the cause of the banging.

“Hang on, D. I’ll get you out.” Michelangelo said, “Just gotta figure out how to open this thing.” He said and began yanking at the door handle before giving up to kick the bottom of the capsule. “GUYS! I found him!”

“Mikey!” came Leonardo’s sharp whisper as it cut through the room with all the ferocity of his katana. “What part of QUIET extraction did you not understand?”

“I’m sorry. I was just so excited to see Donnie, you know?” Michelangelo admitted.

“I know.” Leonardo said, his voice calmer now. “Let’s get him out of there.”

“I tried but I can’t get the door open.”

Leonardo stepped into Donatello’s view to examine the door, “We need the keycode. If we don’t want to risk tripping an alarm we’ll need to go back and find it.”

“Go back? Like shell! We finally found Donnie again, we ain’t going back for nothing.” Raphael said. “Let me handle it.” It was Raphael’s turn to enter Donatello’s view as he shoved Leonardo aside. With one mighty thrust he jammed his sai through the digital lock and the door fell open with a hiss.

What little air the capsule contained escaped in an instant leaving Donatello gasping for oxygen, each unsuccessful breath felt like shards of glass slicing against his dry throat. His body, weak from being denied what it craved, pitched forward.

Leonardo caught his brother in two wide arms drawing him up tight against him, “Hold on, Donnie.” Leonardo said and brought a tube to his brother’s lips, “here.” Donatello took the straw into his mouth and drew a deep grateful breath.

Everything was okay now that they were all together again. “Oh, Leo.” Donatello buried his face in the crook of his brother’s neck, allowing a moment to feel Leonardo’s pulse. He was real. They were real.  

“We missed you.” Leonardo said, moving back to hold his brother at arm’s length. “How are you feeling? Are you alright?” he asked, eyes scanning for any signs of pain or distress.

“I feel a little fuzzy after having the air sucked from my lungs.” He said, “By the way, what’s the deal with that? Are we in Dimension X or something?” Donatello noticed a flash of pain cross each of his brothers’ eyes. “What?” No one spoke for a moment and the tension was making Donatello’s skin crawl.

“Or something.” Leonardo said finally. “A lot has happened since you were kidnapped.” He paused, unsure of where he should begin, then decided to answer the question presented to him, “This isn’t Dimension X, this is Earth.”

“What?” Donatello said, “How is that possible?”

“Using a trans-dimensional portal, the Kraang brought this war machine over from Dimension X. It didn’t take long for them to terraform New York, we all fought for as long as we could but our numbers dwindled quickly.”

“This war machine? Are you saying that we are onboard the Technodrome?” In a moment of clarity, Donatello’s surroundings made sense to him. Standing amidst Kraang technology just seemed so out of place that it hadn’t registered at first. “That’s impossible, we destroyed the Technodrome and defeated Kraang.”

“Nice little dream you had there, Donnie.” Raphael said.

“It wasn’t a dream!” Donatello said. “We spent nearly a year hiding out Upstate, at April’s old farm house. We spent the majority of the time preparing to face the Kraang and defeated them in the end.”

“I take it back, it wasn’t a dream it was a hallucination.” Raphael said.

 “Really.” Michelangelo agreed. “There’s no way April would let us hide out at her house after that falling out we had with her.”

“Falling out?” Donatello paused for a moment. “You mean when we accidently released the mutagen and her dad was mutated”

“Yes, she was angry and wanted nothing more to do with us. We honored her wishes and haven’t seen her since.” Leonardo said.

“No… I mean yes we had a fight but eventually April came to see that it was an accident.” Donatello said, “I even created a retro-mutagen to save Mr. O’Neal and other people who were mutated.” The collective look of confusion on his brothers’ faces said it all, they had no clue what he was talking about. “Oh, come on, you have to remember!”

“Calm down, Donnie” Leonardo said. “You’ve been missing for months and sleeping for who knows how long, your mind is probably mixing your dreams with reality, after all, some of the things you are remembering did happen, just not as you’ve described them.”

“Can something like that even happen?” Michelangelo asked.

“Yeah. I’ve heard of someone losing their memories but not create new ones in place of the old ones.” Raphael chimed in.

 “It’s called confabulation.” Donatello spouted. “It’s a memory disturbance that produces fabricated or distorted memories about oneself or the world…” he paused realizing that his explanation was only serving to prove their point rather than his. “That’s not what this is though!”

“Donnie…” Leonardo said

“Don’t. Don’t use that tone with me,” Donatello said, “like I’m some sort of irrational civilian. I know what happened. I was there!” Donatello said but the look on his big brother’s face was unyielding, he needed a new tactic. “The day April forgave us was also the day we met Casey.” Donatello clambered over to his hot-tempered brother and looked him square in the eye, “You remember Casey, don’t you Raph?”

“Who the shell is Casey?” Raphael asked.  

“Who is Casey?! Only your best friend.” Donatello said “This is unbelievable.” He said to himself, shaking his head in disbelief, teetering from side to side, trying to think of any way he could prove he was the one in the right.

Raphael leveled a worried glance in Leonardo’s direction. “Uh, Leo, I think Donnie’s having a mental breakdown.”

Leonardo grabbed Donatello by the shoulders and forced him to stop moving. “Look at me, Donnie. It’s okay. I don’t know what they did to you but everything is okay now.”

“Leo, I’m telling the truth. You have to believe me, I’m not crazy” Donatello’s voice faltered, the last thing he wanted was for any of his brothers to lose faith in him or his mind.

“No one thinks you’re crazy, Donnie.” came Leonardo’s gentle response. “Actually, if what you are saying is true then we can put an end to all of this right now. You said that you created a retro-mutagen, do you remember the formula?” Leonardo was asking for proof, which was understandable, as Donatello would demand evidence as well were rolls reversed.

“Yes, of course I do.” Donatello said.

“Then you should be able to recreate it on a larger scale.” He said.

“You’re suggesting that I recode the Technodrome to create the retro-mutagen, thereby reversing its effects?” Leonardo nodded which was a testament to how much trust he had in his brother’s abilities.

“Can you do it?” Leonardo asked.

“Assuming the Technodrome has all the chemical materials I need, yes.” Donatello said without a shred of hesitation.

“Wait a minute, Leo.” Raphael said, “How can you be sure about this?”

“I have faith in Donatello.”

 

* * *

Four turtles, united again, made their way through the cacophony of halls and rooms that made up the Technodrome. Donatello lead the way upon his insistence that he knew where he was going, having been aboard the Technodrome before. “The main control room should be behind that door.” He said.

“I don’t like this,” Leonardo said. “That was entirely too easy. We haven’t encountered any Kraang droids of Kraang flyers.”

“There’s a reason for that.” Donatello said then turned to his baby brother,” Mikey, hand me a smoke bomb.” Michelangelo complied and Donatello tossed the refurbished egg against the wall, revealing a tangled laser grid. “The pattern of light is randomized and it’s designed to incinerate anything that comes in contact with it.”

“Okay, how do we get past it?” Leonardo asked.

“Mikey,” Donatello said, “You are the more nimble and intuitive than the rest of us. You can make it across without a problem.” Michelangelo nodded. “There’s a control panel on the other side,” Donatello grabbed Michelangelo’s hand and scrawled a series of letters from the Utrom alphabet on his palm, “put that code in and it should turn off the grid, then we can follow you.”

“Aright, D. I got this.” Michelangelo did a few stretches to loosen up his body before venturing into the hall. He threw another smoke bomb against the wall and was off in a flash, flipping and twisting his body like liquid. With all that was riding on him, he remained focused and before too long he had made it to the other side. Without missing a beat he entered the code and the grid fell away with an audible _Hurrrn_

Donatello, followed by his brothers met Michelangelo at the end of the hall and paused to issue a warning. “There’s another reason why they don’t need security this close to the control room. The computer is guarded by at least four rock soldiers.”

“We don’t have to beat them, just keep them distracted.” Leonardo said. “Donnie, how much time, minimum, do you need to reconfigure the Technodrome?”

“Going off of what I know, I’d say half an hour. But that’s best case, assuming the Technodrome has what I need and I’d say our odds are about forty percent on that front.” Donatello paused, “We still have time to go back and come up with a different plan.” He suggested.

“No.” Raphael said. “Leo’s right, we might not get another chance like this.” He said. “I’m in.”

“Me too.” Michelangelo said.

“Leo?” Donatello asked.

“The objective stands. Let’s take back the Earth.” Leonardo said.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: A big huge mega awesome thanks to Techno Dawn, whose input for Donatello’s alternate reality made this chapter possible. Please read Homecoming by Techno Dawn (on FF.net), it’s incredible, full of suspense and that TMNT brotherly love we all look for.
> 
> Sorry for the late update and thanks to all my reviewers and readers for sticking it out with me. The next chapter will be the conclusion of Donatello’s alternate reality, we’ll see if Evixus finally gets the access he desires.


	16. Shutdown

 

* * *

 _Ch_ _ūgi_ : Duty and loyalty. A warrior is first and foremost responsible for everything they say and do, and for all of the consequences that follow. And the consequences of releasing the mutagen and failing to set things right with April had set the events of this current reality in motion. So, it was up to Donatello and his brothers, under the code of honor to restore order to the world.

Donatello took a breath in order to steady his nerves, he was fine being the leader up until this point. But, what if he was wrong and this portion of his memory didn’t line up with this reality? How could he lead his brothers in there when he wasn’t completely certain?

Leonardo must’ve sensed Donatello’s hesitation because he tactfully maneuvered his position to the lead. The burden of leadership was heavy but he would carry the brunt of it forever if it meant keeping even an ounce of that weight off of his brothers. “Remember the plan, guys. Keep the stone soldiers busy for thirty minutes.”

“Yeah, yeah, Leo, let’s do this.” Raphael said.

_“Donatello”_

“Hold on a minute” Donatello interjected then took a brief pause to collect his thoughts. “I want you guys to know that no matter what happens in there, I love you.”

“Aww, I love you too!” Michelangelo yanked Donatello into a tight embrace, and in an act of cute aggression, began ferociously rubbing his cheek against Donatello’s. “You know you don’t have to say it, though.” Michelangelo released him after satiating his violent act of love.

“Yes, I do. And I should’ve told you before and I should say it every day.” confessed Donatello. “Because, we don’t know what’ll happen tomorrow. Statistically speaking, our way of living has a high probability of ending in tragedy.”

“Donnie, don’t…” Raphael placed a gentle hand on Donatello’s shoulder and gave it a subtle squeeze. This action from Raphael was an unspoken but nonetheless genuine _I love you, too._

“Mikey’s right. We already know how you feel. Never let that be one of your regrets.” Implored Leonardo. “We may not know when death will come but the code teaches us that we don’t have to fear it. And when we do die, it will be with honor because we are fight for what’s right.” Donatello smiled, Leonardo sure knew how to give a pep talk.

“Oh yeah! I am totally pumped now!” raved Michelangelo, “let’s go kick some stone soldier butt.”

“I second that.” Raphael took the initiative by shoving passed Leonardo to open the door.

Unfortunately, Donatello’s was right to second guess what he thought was beyond the doors. Instead of the four stone soldiers he’d predicted, there were only two, and that might have been good news if the two in question weren’t Tragg and Granitor. The two elite stone soldiers stood guard around a collection of Kraang fliers, who were actively working their tentacles over the smooth surface of a computer panel, completely unaware of the world around them; hence the _heavy_ protection. “Oh no.” complained Donatello.

“What do you mean, “oh no”? There are only two soldiers this is gonna be cake.” Raphael said.

“Oh,” whined Michelangelo, “I miss cake, don’t mention cake, dude.”

“Okay, it’s gonna be as easy as pie?” corrected Raphael.

“That’s even worse. You know I haven’t had pizza in months.” Michelangelo lamented.

“Are you guys nuts?! Tragg and Granitor are the most feared rock soldiers in all of **Dimension X**!” bellowed Donatello, alerting Tragg to their presence. The general opened his mouth releasing a flood of lava in the Turtles’ direction. The green team reacted quickly, jumping away from the attack, landing in different parts of the room.

Michelangelo slid to a stop and looked down at his toes to make sure they were all accounted for. He gave them a wiggle and smiled triumphantly as the Stinky Triplets responded. Sadly, his happiness was short-lived because Granitor was already on his tail. Oh Well, Michelangelo thought, it was better to be too cold than too hot.

Michelangelo dropped the weight at the end of his kusarigama swing the chain around allowing it to gather speed before releasing it. The chain wrapped around Granitor’s legs and Michelangelo gave the weapon a swift yank, cinching the giant’s legs together. Granitor countered by freezing the chain with his ice breath, it give way to fatigue and broke.  “Major bummer.”

Meanwhile, Leonardo and Raphael stood side-by-side, sai and katana at the ready, facing off against Tragg. “Did I ever mention that I hate rock soldiers?” Raphael tossed the comment over his shoulder, never taking his eyes off of the massive stone soldier.

“Yeah, Raph, you have.” Leonardo admitted, “But, we only have to survive long enough for Donatello to do his thing.” Leonardo pushed off of the ground and slid beneath Tragg’s open legs, coming out on the other side. Then, performed amazing feats of parkour in order to gain speed for his attack. Leonardo brought down his katana, fully intending on severing Tragg’s arm. However, to Leonardo’s dismay, his katana shattered and the tip of the blade soared through the air, nearly stabbing Donatello’s working hand.

 “Donnie!?” Leonardo wailed, “you okay?”

“Yeah.” He confirmed. “Just a few more seconds guys, I’m typing up the formula and giving the new commands right now.” He said. 

_“My son…”_

“GYAH-HA-HAA” Raphael and Leonardo turned to find Michelangelo, swinging haplessly from a baton of his nunchaku. Granitor swung Michelangelo around in circles until he was dizzy. “Ugh, I think I’m gonna hurl.” Granitor brought the young turtle up to face level and opened his mouth, Michelangelo could feel the frigid air against his skin. Maybe being too hot wasn’t so bad after all.

_“…hear me?”_

**_Initiating new_ protocol**, came the Technodrome’s metallic voice.

“Mikey! I’m coming,” Task complete, Donatello pole vaulted himself through the air with his bo, catching Michelangelo narrowly missing Granitor’s attack.

“Thanks, bro.” Mikey said.

Raphael grabbed Leonardo’s hand, swung him around onto his carapace and thrusts his body backward, propelling Leonardo through the air. Leonardo landed on top of Tragg’s head and with the flick of his wrist he turned his katana so that it was perpendicular to the ground and brought it down as hard as he could. This time, his katana sank through Tragg’s rocky skin, embedding itself to its tsuba. Leonardo gave his katana a tug and discovered that he had control over Tragg’s head. This gave Leonardo an idea and he indicated his plan to Raphael through a series of hand gestures.

Raphael ran toward Granitor, rammed his sai into the soldier’s legs and began his ascent. Once he reached the top of Granitor’s head, Raphael stabbed both sai through Granitor’s skull, taking a seat so he could steer properly. “Hey, I guess these guys aren’t so bad after all. I’ll like to see someone cut me off in traffic now.” Raphael steered Granitor toward Tragg, both stone soldiers releasing a wave of their respective elemental powers.  Ice met fire in a spectacular explosion of steam and rock. Raphael and Leonardo simultaneously disembarked, landing next to each other as Tragg and Granitor destroyed each other.

_“…lies”_

**_Complete planetary overhaul in four minutes._ **

“We need to run.” Urged Donatello. “We have to get back to my lab and put it in lockdown. If we are outside when the retro-mutagen spreads then we’ll change back into pet store commodities.”

“Well, we ain’t going back the way we came.” Raphael jerked his thumb behind him, indicating that the entrance was congested by Kraang droids. In an instant, laser blasts filled the room, falling down like rain upon them.

“This way!” Leonardo said, spotting a hole to the next section of the Technodrome, created by Tragg’s arm during the explosion. The Turtles took the olive branch presented to them and hurried through the opening. Once they were through, Raphael implored the help of his brothers to pull the Tragg’s arm through the hole, thereby preventing Kraang droids from following.

“Guess you could say the Kraang are caught between a rock and a hard place.” Quipped Michelangelo, earning him a stout whack to the back of the head courtesy of Raphael. “Ouch!”

“Guys, this is no time for jokes.” Cautioned Leonardo, “We have about three minutes left to get out of here. Donnie, what’s the fastest route?” No response. “Donnie?” he spotted his brother standing across the room in front of a giant glass water tank.

Leonardo crossed the room, ready to inform Donatello that this wasn’t the time to feed his curiosities. But as the leader in blue approached the tank curiosity struck him as well. There was somebody floating inside. “It’s-” He breathed.

“April?” Raphael finished, as he and Michelangelo joined Leonardo.

Like a wet specimen, April’s body was perfectly preserved, suspended in a state that was every bit as haunting as it was beautiful. Her hair was fanned out all around her like a halo of fire. Her eyes were open, two silvery globes looking out into a world they could no longer see. Each of her features were as Donatello remembered them.

“Oh… April.” Michelangelo placed a miserable hand against the tank. “Why?”

Realization hit Donatello like a ton of bricks, if the fight with April had transpired the way Leonardo said, then they weren’t there to rescue her the day Kraang kidnapped her. “The Kraang needed her DNA.” Donatello started. “This is awful…for two years they must’ve… they must’ve done unspeakable things to her.”

_“…an illusion…”_

“I’m getting her out of there.” vowed Donatello

**_Complete planetary overhaul in one minute_ **

“Donnie we have to go. She’s gone, there isn’t anything we can do for her now,” Leonardo said carefully, surprised at how well Donatello was holding up given the situation.

“That’s not true! I can fix this.” Donatello quickly set to work at the terminal near the tank, accessing the operations menu, punching in a combination of letters and numbers. Before long, the liquid in the tank emptied through a drain at the bottom and the door popped open with a hiss.

Donatello was at April’s side in an instant. Unsurprisingly, she wasn’t breathing. And upon closer evaluation he could see the blue tint on her lips and the deep indigo veins that marbled her transparent skin. She wore all the signs of drowning but still, Donatello insisted. “Don’t worry, April. You’ll be as good as new in no time.” He ran a skilled finger along her neck trying to find a pulse that wasn’t there. “No, this can’t be real.” he sobbed, “you’re my sweet chinchilla.” Donatello tucked a fiery lock behind April’s ear, even like this she was still the most beautiful girl he’d ever seen.

Donatello turned around to enlist the aid of his brothers only to discover that they were frozen in time. “Guys?” as he stood to investigate, his brothers crumbled into millions of tiny particles that mixed in the air like a mini galaxy.

The galaxy zipped past Donatello’s head and twirled faster, absorbing April’s body as it, too, disintegrated. When the particles were all together, they twirled down toward a central point and solidified, taking on a cubic shape. The object spun around slowly, giving off a violet hue, flipping this way and that, never changing despite side or direction.

Unable to resist touching it, Donatello tapped a curious finger against the cube causing it to stop spinning and instead sink toward Donatello as if being drawn in by a magnetic force. It entered his chest everything became abundantly clear.

_“Donatello, my son, can you hear me? Do not believe those lies. That world is an illusion.”_

The false world around him shattered away, revealing his true surroundings. He was in his lab, the one in the spiritual plain. And standing there, just an arm’s length away, was Splinter. “Sensei?” croaked Donatello. “What’s going on? Why am I here?”

“Why is not as important as how.” He replied, letting out an exasperated breath, “I’ve been trying to reach you for days and if you hadn’t unlocked your spiritual symbol, I fear you may have remained trapped.”

“Spiritual symbol?” Donatello paused, “You mean that cube?”

“Cube?” Splinter thought for a moment before nodding his head in agreement, “Fitting. It represents stability, permanence and truth.” He nodded a few more times, “it’s also, often considered to be the counterpart of the sphere.” He stroked his beard, “interesting.”

“It represents truth?” Donatello gasped. “Of course. That other world. It wasn’t real.” He said. “It was Evixus, trying to assimilate my mind. I’m stupid for not seeing this earlier.”

“Be calm my son,” soothed Splinter, “think not on what should have been but instead on what is.”

“Right. Okay.” Donatello turned his attention to his spiritual computer. Images on the monitor were flashing, desperate for attention, warning of a powerful virus. “Not good.” That was the understatement of the year. Nearly forty percent of his mind had been corrupted by this virus and there was no time to create an antivirus. “I can’t stop it.”

“Remain steadfast in your decisions and do not give up, your brothers and I want you to come back home,” Splinter’s voice cut in and out, he’d overstayed his welcome in the astral universe so he had to make this quick. “Remember that inside you beats the heart of a warrior.” With those final words, Splinter faded away.

That’s right. Donatello was a warrior, following the code of honor as best he could in this modern world. And while some of the tenets were dated there was one that never aged. That tenet? _Y_ _ū_ : Heroic courage. Any soldier can claim they have it in droves during times of peace, but it is during battle that a warrior’s true merit is revealed.

Donatello had two options during this particular battle:  let the virus corrupt the rest of his mind thereby causing the end of humanity. Or, save the world by denying access to his mind… permanently.  

“Sorry guys, but it looks like I won’t be going home.” When it came to protecting the ones he loved there was no hesitation. “Computer, initiate Safety Protocol Alpha.” Donatello commanded, “System Shutdown Command: one, nine, eight, four.”

 

* * *

Evixus was forcibly removed from Donatello’s mind, thrown back, quite literally, into the waking world. The alien’s body collided with April’s empty chamber but he quickly regained his composure, “You may have won this battle but I have a consolation prize.” Evixus hissed.

“Sir, the frequency has shut down.” Said one of Evixus’ lackeys.

“I am aware of that.” Evixus said, never taking his eyes off Donatello’s comatose form. “No matter, this is only a minor setback.” he assured, “in the meantime, I want you to gather the finest biochemical engineers. I have knowledge of a certain formula they may be interested in.”                                    

“Yes sir.” The lackey ran off, eager to please his master.

“We’ll see how inclined you are to fight me when you have no one left to fight for.” Evixus said. “The war will be mine.”

 

 

 


	17. Absent

* * *

From his place aboard a red barge Casey scanned the vast collection of cars that made up the Erie Basin Auto Pound. Raphael stood beside him and watched for signs of activity. It had been a while since the last time the two of them had gone on patrol together. This was due, in part by Casey's decision to join the Mutanimals in an effort to give the turtles some space.

Currently they were on a mission set forth by Slash, who'd discovered that April's getaway van was being held here, pending a police investigation. Casey drummed his forefinger against the side of his binoculars; he didn't like being this close to any building frequented by the NYPD.

"Stop doing that." Raphael barked.

"Sorry, dude." Casey said. "Can't help it. Me and the cops don't mix."

"You didn't have to come, you know." Raphael said. "You could have given me the info and went back to working with your  _new_ team."

Ouch. "Don't be like that, dude. Besides, I know you missed going out on patrol with me." Casey teased.

"I did not and I ain't being like nothing." dismissed Raphael, hoping his tone didn't convey that he was lying through his teeth. "Just keep looking."

Casey resumed his search and spotted the van in the second row of parked cars nestled between a black Honda Civic and a red Ford Focus. Casey lowered the binoculars and pointed across the lot "Is that it, right there?"

"Probably. How many crispy fried vans do you think are in there?" Raphael spat.

"It's New York, there could be more than one." Casey pointed out, "Why are you so salty? I thought you'd be happy about this."

"Let's just search the van so we can get out of here." Raphael said.

The pair of restless warriors disembarked and ran across a well-lit street before scaling the chain-link fence that surrounded the auto pound. When they landed on the other side they took cover, ducking from car to car until they reached the charred remains of what was once April's getaway van.

Raphael's focus settled on back of the vehicle where its two barn doors had been ripped from their hinges. It, no doubt, happened during Overkill's forceful departure. A twitchy feeling crawled through Raphael's veins, his muscles strained against his skin, and the urge to hurt someone bubbled to the surfaced.

"Hey! Who's there?" inquired an extremely unlucky security officer.

Raphael pounced on the officer, grabbing his arm to the point of bruising and threw him, face first, against the side of the van. The vicious action caused a plastic name tag reading  _Thompson_  to fall to the ground between them.

"You're in big trouble, whoever you are." Said Thompson.

Oh really? Thought Raphael. He poked his sai against Thompson's face, its saki-the longest prong- dug into Thompson's cheek hard enough to indent the skin without breaking it.

"Hey, please…please don't kill me," sniveled Thompson, "I got kids…"

"What the heck are you doing, Raph!?" exclaimed Casey, and at the risk of personal injury, pulled Raphael away from Thompson, who subsequently fell to the ground in an unconscious heap. "Aww, nice going, Raph." Casey whined. "Seriously, what's your problem?"

Raphael clenched his jaw and wheeled around, jabbing a green finger in Casey's face. "You want to know what my problem is." he seethed, "It's been two months! Mikey can't even look at me after that stunt I pulled back at the school!" Raphael shifted his weight from one foot to the other. "Leo's still recovering from his fall, and Donnie is still missing!" Raphael's throat grew tight. "My brothers are in pain and there isn't a damn thing I can do about it!"

"I feel you, man, but we can't give up." Casey said, keeping his tone low. "Doc said that the frequency shut off a couple days ago and he seems to think that Donnie had something to do with it."

Sighing dejectedly, Raphael let his body sag forward. "You know what the worse part of all of this is?" he didn't wait for Casey to respond before continuing, "When we were growing up, I was hard on Donnie because I wanted to toughen him up." Raphael shifted his weight again, "and it created a rift between us." He admitted. "and I convinced myself that I was good with it." His stomach roiled. "But I'm not and I never got the chance to tell him that I…that he's… important to me."

Casey leaned over and awkwardly nudged Raphael's arm with his elbow, "Hey, you'll get your chance. This isn't over yet."

Raphael felt an unexpected release of tension and was filled with a renewed sense of purpose. And, though the fiery turtle would never admit it out loud, he was truly grateful for Casey's presence. "Yeah, you're right." He breathed out what was left of his anger, "Cover me while I search the van?"

"Sure thing." Casey muttered, his face flushed with color, thankfully Raphael couldn't see him too well in the dark.

Raphael rounded the vehicle and opened the driver's side door. It gave way with a screech and shards of glass rained down to the ground. Inside, the impact from hitting the tree created a deep concavity that walled the driver's side from the passenger's side. "How did you survive this?"

Raphael took a shaky breath and swept more glass from the driver's seat before climbing inside. He heard a small metallic sound as his foot came in contact with April's forgotten tessen. He grabbed it up with two hands and studied it. "What's this doing here?" leaning around the steering wheel, Raphael saw two broken zip ties near the accelerator. As he maneuvered his body to grab the ties his hands swept across the wheel and he felt two fine grove marks in the leather.

Raphael used the clues presented to him to paint a picture of what went down that night. First, Donatello was strapped the wheel and forced the drive. Second, without the use of his hands, Donatello managed to use the tessen to cut himself free.

After a brief pause, Raphael was struck by a sudden understanding. "No way." Raphael breathed, "you flipped the van on purpose, didn't you Don?" Raphael couldn't fathom the amount of calculated precision and strength it must've taken to orchestrate such an escape. Even under extreme circumstances Donatello was able to gain control of the situation. "Well, if you ain't given up then I ain't either." Vowed Raphael.

* * *

Every Thursday night since Donatello's disappearance, Michelangelo made sure the VCR recorded the latest episode of Dining Room Nightmares –a reality show about an angry but helpful British chief- While Michelangelo had always been fond of the show, it had become something of a guilty pleasure for Donatello. Nonetheless it was something they were able to enjoy together and they never missed an episode.

Boy, we are going to have a tubular time binge watching these, Michelangelo thought as he placed a hand atop the loyal VCR to reminisce; Setting up the VCR was one of the first things Donatello had ever done. And now there wasn't a single thing in the lair that didn't have that certain Donatello flare.

Michelangelo's smile melted away, transforming his face into something unnatural, something he hated. His shoulders dropped and his body bowed forward as a pained keening left his mouth. His chest ached. It was so unbearably painful that he wished to get away from the agony of reality.

Just then, Michelangelo caught a whiff of burn toast and metal coming from Donatello's lab. "Donnie?" Michelangelo hopped over the couch and padded over to the lab to look inside. A slightly transparent version of Donatello was sitting at the workbench, tinkering with the toaster.

Ignoring how unhealthy it was to see apparitions, Michelangelo decided to indulge himself in the fantasy. The sanguine turtle sauntered into the lab, and, doing his best impression of the angry British chef said, "It's burnt! Put it in the bin!"

"Pfft." Donatello smiled. "Leo said that all he did was look at it and it burst into flames." Michelangelo took a seat on the stool opposite his ghostly brother. "You think if Leo tried to boil water he'd find a way to burn that too?" Donatello asked, screwing the bottom back on to the toaster, his task complete.

"You pose an interesting question, my dear Watson." Michelangelo said, shifting his British accent to something befitting the role of Sherlock Holmes.

"Wait a minute, of the two of us I'm Watson? Seriously?"

Ha, yeah, that was so what Donnie would say, too. And he'd probably pretend to be offended, thought Michelangelo. "There's nothing wrong with being Watson." Michelangelo pointed out, taking a pencil between his lips, pretending it was a pipe. "now, let us get back to the question at hand."

"But Sherlock is all about, logic, science and chemistry." Donatello said.

"So?" Michelangelo asked while hugged his legs against his plastron so that he could rest his chin on top of his knee. Donatello's image began to fade and the tightness in Michelangelo's throat returned. No! Michelangelo focused uber hard on Donatello's side of the conversation in an effort to keep reality at bay for a little longer.

"So? Hello! Physics… Science…." Donatello pointed at himself between each word before sweeping his hands out across his lab, gesturing at the fine assembly of glassware that made up his chemistry set up. "I'm Sherlock."

"Weak. You aren't the only one good at chemistry, dude." Michelangelo said, puffing out his chest. "I'm pretty good at it myself."

"Have you been drinking the mutagen again?" Donatello asked.

"No, I'm serious bro, just what do you think cooking is?" countered Michelangelo, flailing his arms about dramatically. "I gotta mix all kinds of ingredients and experiment to make perfect meals for you guys."

"That's not the same thing." Donatello said, his voice an octave higher than normal, which was a clear sign that he'd been schooled. "Yeah, well," he paused "your "experiments" don't blow up."

"They do if Leo's in the kitchen." Donatello stared at him for a moment before a laughing. It was one of those long and uncontrollable bouts, the kind of laughter that Michelangelo loved to draw out of people. It was contagious and soon, Michelangelo gave in to a fit of giggles.

Then Reality won out, Donatello vanished, and the laughter wedged itself in Michelangelo's throat. His lungs tightened and the only sounds that followed were gut-wrenching sobs and dry heaves.

* * *

Meanwhile, hidden deep within the sewer tunnels, Leonardo stood in a middle stance, ready to perform a simple three step combo.  _He expanded his reach as far as he could._ "Ichi." Leonardo held his katana with both hands.  _A few more feet and he could pull himself onto the truck._ He lifted the sleek blade above his head in preparation for a descending strike.  _His frozen fingertips grazed the underside of the bumper and the rope snapped._  "Ni."  _the helicopter disappeared into the night with_ _his brother_ _._  Leonardo swung his katana, putting every ounce of his power into the strike.

The katana slipped from Leonardo's hand as pain branched up his arm like lightening, striking his right shoulder blade violently. "Damn it!" Leonardo cursed, shuttering uncontrollably; it was hard enough to get through his physical therapy without being haunted by memories of that night. He took a deep, pained breath and placed a hand over the tender joint.

He'd sustained his injury shortly after the rope snapped, but thanks to Michelangelo's unparalleled skill with kusarigama Leonardo avoided becoming a green stain on the streets of New York. The leader in blue vividly remembered what it felt like when the chain became taut around his arm, stopping his descent while simultaneously dislocating his shoulder.

After Splinter set Leonardo's shoulder, he forbade Leonardo from training for two weeks. Frustrating though it was for Leonardo, he didn't let that time go wasted, no, he used it to create a special kata. The simple configuration consisted of basic kendo movements and focused on the rehabilitation of his shoulder.

And so, for the past six weeks Leonardo sought the solitude of the tunnels in order to practice. Six weeks and he still couldn't get though the first section of the kata. Pathetic. Leonardo's face scrunched up and he tugged on the tails of his mask. "Okay, Leo, just calm down." He said. "You know all of these moves, so there's no reason you can't do them."

Leonardo retrieved his katana and rolled his shoulder; this simple movement released a new jolt of discomfort that snaked up his spine and into his brain. He pinched the bridge of his beak and closed his eyes against the impeding tension headache.

Then, his eyes snapped open and his body grew tense, someone was approaching. Leonardo switched his katana to his left hand and waited patiently. When the intruder was close enough he pounced, shoving them roughly up against the wall, pinning them there with the edge of his katana. "Leo? Wait!" said the intruder.

Leonardo felt a sudden coldness strike at his core when he realized that the intruder was April. Leonardo didn't expect to see the frightened face of the girl he and his brothers had rescued from the Kraang; but there she was, hiding behind her hair, looking fragile. Leonardo's grip faltered and April gently wrapped her tiny hands around Leonardo's forearms. " **Don't touch me**." He spat.

April quickly dropped her hands to her sides. She didn't expect to be alive at this moment, which meant that she still had a chance to get back on Leonardo good graces, not that it would be easy. "Leo, I know you're angry but…" Leonardo pinned her with an intense fevered stare, daring her to finish her sentence.

"Where's Donnie?" The edge of Leonardo's katana glinted with murderous intent.

"I don't know. When I woke up, I wasn't at Springhill anymore. I managed to escape but I was swept away by an aqueduct and I washed up on the Hudson." She said, probably signing her death warrant. She knew the last thing Leonardo wanted to hear was that Donatello wasn't with her.

"Wrong answer, traitor." He spoke slowly and with intent as he emphasized the word  _traitor_. "I told you when you left that there would be no mercy." He said, but withdrew his katana anyway, "But, unlike you, I live by a code of honor." Leonardo yanked April away from the wall and shoved her toward the lair. "Move." He ordered.


	18. Virus

Mondo Gecko struggled against his restraints as he found himself lying supine with his arms and legs strapped to a surgical table. To say that his evening didn't go as planned was an understatement, then again, no one planned on being kidnapped.

The Purple Dragons got the jump on him while he was busting out fresh moves on his board, a fact that upset Mondo more than his abduction alone. "You kooks better have a good reason for wrecking my night of epic halfpipe grindage."

"Sure do." A burly young gangster with a purple dragon tattoo encircling his arm came into Mondo's view. Other than his mass, there didn't seem to be anything particularly menacing about the gangster. "I got a question to ask you."

"Whatever," Mondo rolled his eyes, "You didn't have to kidnap me for that."

Nah, just an added bonus of the job." He said, "Where is the Turtles' lair?"

"Get Bent! You're straight up crunk if you think I'm going to tell you that." Said Mondo.

"Why are you protecting them, Jason, ain't they the ones that turned you into a mutant freak?"

Mondo felt himself heat up, he wasn't one to accept insults, especially when thrown at him by random Purple Dragon gangbangers. "I don't know how you know my name but you best let me go before my friends show up. They have mad fighting skills and once they figure out that you kidnapped me, you'll be hella sorry."

"Oh yeah, I have a feeling it'll be too late by then." the gangster retrieved a switchblade from his back pocket, then proceeded to roll the retracted instrument through his fingers from one side to the other. "Why don't you save them the trouble of having to look for me, and just tell me where they are?"

"It's no trouble, in fact, I can think of three of them who'd love to rip your head off just for giving them a funny look." Mondo said, pausing for a beat before adding, "No, four, if you count my human friend."

The gangster released the blade with the flick of his wrist, at which point Mondo's tail began swishing uncontrollably. "I read somewhere that it takes a leopard gecko about sixty-five days to grow its tail back. I wonder if it's the same way with you."

Mondo knew what the gangster was getting at, he honestly didn't know if his tail could grow back and he wasn't in the market to find out either. Still, "Do your worst, I won't narc on my friends even if you chop up my body inch by inch."

The gangster lunged forward and jammed the knife into the table near Mondo's head, "You're lucky the boss needs you alive or else I'd take you up on that offer."

"Oh yeah, well, I'd like to talk to your boss. Tell him, his men don't have the stones to get the job done." Teased Mondo.

"You're pushing it." The gangster reached for his knife but stopped midway, his eyes shifting rapidly beneath his lids, as if processing information. "Guess you'll get to speak to the boss after all."

The air shifted, giving off an electrifying feeling that pulled at Mondo's skin like tiny magnets. Mondo's tail flailed frantically when he became aware of a new presence in the room. "You mutants have a lot of guts." The gangster said, his voice the same yet noticeably different. "We are Evixus." Said the alien, now seeing the world through the gangster's eyes.

"You're that alien everyone warned me about." Mondo said, he'd love to give Evixus a mouth full of chicklets for what he did to the Turtles, or specifically what losing Donatello did to them. "You'd better let my friends' brother go or I'll—"

"You'll what?" Evixus challenged, "You are hardly in the position to make threats, let alone demands." The alien pointed out. "But we grow weary of this conversation. We'll give you one more chance to tell us where the Turtles are before we let our temporary host satiate his curiosity."

"Bit me, creep!" Mondo said.

"Fine. We do not need you to tell us where the lair is when we can simply use you to draw the Turtles out of hiding." Evixus ducked down beneath the horizon of Mondo's view and returned a few moments later with a syringe of yellow liquid in hand. "This virus, we derived from Donatello's Retro-mutagen formula, will strengthen your human brainwaves, thus giving us access to that mind of yours."

"Jaah right." Mondo challenged.

"Allow us to explain." Evixus said. "Before our frequency was shut off, we managed to infect the entire population of New York City with our influence, including you mutants." Evixus shared a look with Mondo. "You think the frequency doesn't work on your kind but if our calculations are correct, and they usually are, the virus will change that." Evixus plunged the needle into Mondo's neck, administering a full dose of the virus.

The virus spread quickly, Mondo could feel every drop as it burned through his veins, changing little parts of his DNA. His entire body felt like an open wound, exposed air; raw and tender. He clenched his fists but even that small action was so sensitive that it managed to wring a small whimper from his lips. Mondo bit his lip, determined to endure the pain no matter what.

"It'll be over soon, Jason," Evixus said, "And once you and the Mutanimals destroy the rest of those Turtles, there will be nothing standing in our way."

* * *

Elsewhere.

Slash sat down at the table, across from a stack of student files, thinking, a fresh look at them might turn up a new lead. He picked up the top file and a handwritten letter slipped from its folds. Slash stared at the letter for a long moment, had he headed pleas of the girl who'd written it, she'd still be alive. He retrieved the letter and was taken back a few months in the past, to a time when he'd had the chance to put an end to Evixus' plans before they even became an issue…

_Slash returned to the hideout alone, he and the rest of the Mutanimals had just finished closing a massive drug smuggling case in the Bronx. And he was eager to get in a little R &R before the next case inevitably came his way. Unfortunately, on that night particular night, his next case was two seconds of couch time away._

_The alert above Rockwell's workstation went off, signaling that someone had placed a letter in the through door drop box. This box had been set up years ago with the sole purpose of allowing anyone to request help. Those who were extremely desperate were inclined to use it, as those who would abuse it were deterred from doing so by promises of dismemberment._

_Slash got to his feet and crossed the warehouse in order to check the box. He retrieved the letter and tore it open, the sound resonated, alerting the person outside to his presence._

" _Hello? Is someone there?" Slash peered out through a hole in the wall and saw a teenage girl, the crest on her uniform read Springhill Academy._

_It's a little late to be out on a school night, don't you think?" Slash asked, trying to keep his voice low and nonthreatening._

" _I'm sorry to bother you so late but I heard about this drop box from some guys at my school." She said. "Is it true that you help people?"_

" _Depends on what it is." Slash answered honestly._

" _It's my sister." The girl said. "I think she was kidnapped."_

" _Did you report it to the police?" Slash inquired._

" _Yes, but they don't believe me, neither do my parent, they all think she's gone AWOL again." The girl said._

" _Again?" asked Slash, he really didn't have the time or resources to waste on a runaway case. "Look, I'm sure she'll turn up, this isn't really our thing."_

" _No, please wait!" the girl said. "Look, I know how it sounds, okay. But this time it's different." The girl said. "A few weeks ago she got called into the school office. She told me that the Headmaster was acting really strangely, that he kept asking about her IQ, like it turned him on or something." Slash could hear the cringe in her voice. "I know he did something to her."_

" _Do you have any proof?" Slash asked, flipping the letter to the back, its only contents, the story the girl had just told him._

" _No, but there's a secret room in his office, I'm sure there's something there." The girl said._

" _I'm sorry, that's not enough to go on." Slash explained._

" _Then. I'll get more proof." The girl said._

…Slash came back from his memory when Casey entered the hideout, and he tucked the letter back into the folder. "Hey kid, you're back early." Noted Slash as Casey ambled toward him, his body was covered in a light sheen of sweat, odd given the cool weather of early February, Slash observed.

"Yeah. Leo called Raph in, something came up at the lair. Raph wouldn't tell me what it was, though." Replied Casey, an unspoken  _so don't ask_ tacked on to the end of his sentence.

Slash wasn't going to ask. Plus, he really only had one concern. "How's Raphael?"

"I donno…" Casey shrugged, "He's…Raph… he nearly beat the crap out of some poor security guard at the lot." Casey shifted his weight slightly and rubbed the back of his neck.

"Did you discover anything useful from the van?" Slash asked.

"Useful? No." Casey shut his eyes tightly and ran a hand down the expanse face. "But Raph found April's weapon and it seemed to fire him up." Casey squinted his eyes against the light of the warehouse lamps.

"You alright, kid?" Slash asked.

It took a moment for Casey to respond, "Huh? Oh yeah… fine, just a headache." He said. "It's funny, I never used to get them before, and that counts all my battles, on and off the ice." Casey lamented, "But lately, I seem to get one every day."

"Maybe you should sit down." Slash, slowly kicked out the adjacent chair in which Casey gratefully took a seat. "You've been working nonstop since you joined us. I know you want to save your friends, but it's okay to rest."

"I don't need rest." Casey said, eying the file Slash had been looking at and recognized the name on its cover. "I remember her. She was the first one to go missing." Casey's voice strained, "Her little sister came here for help before she was found murdered in her home."

"What did you say?" Slash set his jaw, he was pretty sure he hadn't told a soul about the sister's visit as he was unable to admit that his dismissal of her, directly lead to her death. "How do you about know that?"

"Oh, I must've read it somewhere when I was digging around through the headmaster's office at Springhill." Casey said

Slash watched Casey carefully, as plausible an explanation as that was, something felt off, but before Slash could confront Casey on the issue, a sharp squawk came through on the two-way radio at Slash's belt.

"Hey, Pete. Whadja find?" Slash answered, he'd sent the spy out to collect data on the FBI's investigation of the Springhill explosion. –The entire campus was leveled by a chain reaction set off by a student in a mech suit, as Raphael later explained—

"Nothing." Pete said.

Slash Stood up, his chair scooting loudly along the ground, "What do you mean, nothing?"

"Just what I said." Pete squawked, "I read through all of the classified files I could find and not a single one mentions guns, bombs, or robots; Not so much as a scrap of tech, alien or otherwise was recovered from the scene." Clarified Pete. "As far as the FBI is concerned this was just a freak accent."

"What? How is that possible, Springhill was packed with enough firepower to start a small war?" Slash's two-way cracked beneath the pressure of his fist.

"Yeah well, it would be a dead end if finding nothing wasn't a clue in itself." Pete said. "This means that Evixus has cleaners, and if we can find out who they are…"

"We can question them to see if they know where Evixus' new base of operations is." Slash finished. But, "the cleaners won't be easy to track down." Slash mused.

"It might be easier than you think." Pete said, "I'm standing in front of an apartment complex across from the scene, there's a surveillance camera pointed toward the school grounds, and I'm willing to bet some serious bread, it captured the something." Pete said.

"Nice work, Pete." Praised Slash, Finally, some good news. "Report back when it's done."

"Will do." Pete said.

Slash ended the communication and turned his attention back to Casey, at some point the boy had fallen asleep, with is head down on top of his folded arms. "come on, kid." Slash scooped Casey up with ease and carried him over to the couch where he gently set him down. Slash grabbed a blanket from the corner and tucked Casey in, his earlier suspicions forgotten. "Sleep well, Casey."

* * *

Pete made his way around to the back of the apartment complex, following the surveillance camera's single white wire, to a small shed housing the surveillance monitors. Pete looked through the shatter proof window in the center of the door, there was no one inside, but the half-eaten hamburger next to a keyboard told the spy that he didn't have long to complete his mission.

Pete quickly made his way inside and retrieved a thumb drive from his pocket. All he needed were the videos of the past two months. He stuck the thumb drive into the tower and made sort work of finding the old surveillance files. He quickly transferred the necessary files to the drive.

The door flew open.

Startled, Pete stood up and turned around and saw Mondo Gecko standing in the doorway. Pete sighed and let his shoulders fall forward. "oh, Jason, it's just you." Mondo responded by lifting a dart gun into view. He aimed it at Pete and fired, hitting the spy, pointblank in the shoulder.

Pete stumble back a few inches and plucked the offensive dart from his skin, a yellow substance dripped from its tip. "Wh-What did you hit me with?"

"Oh, it's totally rad." Mondo said. "it's going to unlock your true potential."

"What are you talking about?" Pete rubbed his burning shoulder, whatever he was injected with was spreading fast.

"I'm talking about getting rid of those turtles, duh." Mondo replied. "Aren't you tried of being second tier on a second rate team? Don't you think, we Mutanimals deserve to be the number one heroes in this city?"

"We all do our part, Jason." Pete said, placing his hand on the desk behind him in order to steady himself.

"Yeah, right! So, the Turtles took down two baddies, big whoop." Mondo said, tilting his head to the side in order to stay in Pete's view.

"The  _baddies_  you are referring to are Kraang and Shredder." Pete doubled over and fell to his knees, placing two hands on the ground in front of him. His hands curling into tight fists.

"Jaah, so?  **We** , bust our butts every night, putting away the rest of New York's criminals." Mondo said. " **We**  are the ones who actually take care of this community." Mondo said. "And its high time we put the Turtle's in their place." Mondo said, Pete barely catching the last of it as he faded into unconsciousness.


	19. Hybrids

 

* * *

Under hooded cloak, Splinter made his way through the hollow streets of New York, he took sure and careful steps toward the lair. He'd successfully given his missing pupils all the aid he was able to offer and now the rest was up to them.

A car passed, its headlights slicing through the thickness of night and Splinter clutched his cloak at the base of his neck, shielding his face beneath its safety. The sound of his clawed paws echoed down the alley but the dull sound that returned caused Splinter to pause, something wasn't right about his echo's return.

Splinter tapped his cane against the ground with more force than was necessary and again, the echo that returned was dull. Splinter stood completely still, his stance saying nothing about his intentions yet leaving no opening for a potential attack. "Reveal yourself, alien." Ordered Splinter with his signature air of authority.

The shadow of the alley spread toward Splinter like black ink on a white page. A wall of pressure closed in on him, but if Splinter was uncomfortable it didn't show on his face. The pressure and shadow swirled together, becoming a solid entity.

Evixus in his true form. Galaxies swirled through the alein’s inky body, trapped beneath a layer of skin that resembled glass. Several black tentacles sprouted from the being's back swirling around like wisps of hair sweapt up by a spring breeze.

"Impressive, Hamato, Yoshi." The alien hissed, "Seems you know more of me than I was prepared to give you credit. It’s only fair, I suppose, given that I've learned so much about you from the Host. How she respects and adores you, I don't see why? You are just another hideous abomination." it said.

"Outward appearance has no bearing on whether or not a being is an abomination." Splinter said. "You’re proof of that.”

“We?” One of the tentacles stretched out toward Splinter giving of violet charges as it did. Splinter didn't need to be told to avoid them and so the ninja master leapt into the air, catching hold of a nearby fire escape in order to pull himself to Safety. 

“We offer world peace." the alien said, "You know as well as we do that a world of peace is only possible in the absence of free will. Human nature is so primitive, you see. "

"The road to true peace must be made in the presence of free will, I have no doubt that we will eventually get there." Splinter said. "Your brand of peace is slavery. To have mankind bend to your will."

"You want to talk about bending peoples' will? What about you and your s _ons_? You took away any chance they had to experience normalcy by training them to suit your vendetta against your mortal enemy, Saki."

"You are wrong." Splinter said, his voice resonating through the alley. "I trained them for self-preservation."

"There is no need to lie to us. We see all." Evixus said. "I know that your selfish need for revenge against the man who destroyed your family is what drove you to force your sons to fight."

"Perhaps that was true once, but no longer." Splinter said. "They are my family now and I won't let any harm befall them."

"I'm afraid you don't have a choice in the matter." Evixus said. “Your sons have become quite the thorn in our side. And now it’s time to throw some thorns in their direction.”

The alien whipped a tentacle toward Splinter once more, this time, when Splinter dodged it, Evixus was ready with five more tentacles, one of which managed to wrap around Splinters leg and shock him. Splinter could feel all of the hatred, pain, and suffering the creature had caused others. Every ounce of it swirled through his body.

Ever connected to the spiritual realm as he was, Splinter could hear their calls for help as they clung to his light seeing refuge. Splinter felt himself suffocating, his sprit couldn't accommodate all of the lives that consumed him.

Just as Splinter was about to succumb to the cacophony of stolen lives, a ribbon of purple light wrapped around him, shielding his spirit from the onslaught of voices.

Splinter knew this warmth, it belonged to Donatello, and in that moment he knew that his clan would be victorious. And with that thought to comfort him, Splinter lost consciousness.

* * *

Raphael stormed through the turnstiles and jumped down into the conversation pit on his way to meet with Leonardo, who was patiently waiting. Michelangelo was already seated on the couch, holding onto his favorite teddy bear for all it was worth. "Leo, what's going on? Did you find Donnie?"

Michelangelo threw a warning glance in Raphael's direction, he had the same question but was weary about voicing it for fear of the answer being no. Raphael sat down, placing a reassuring hand on his baby brother's his bicep.  _It's alright_.

"No." Leonardo said, prompting Michelangelo to squeeze his teddy bear a little tighter, the heartbreak in his baby blues was undeniable. Leonardo felt a cluster of sadness well up at the base of his throat. "But," he continued, swallowing down his sadness as leaders were want to do. "April's tied up in the dojo."

Raphael was on his feet in an instant. "I'm sorry, I think I'm having a stroke, did you just say April's in the dojo?"

"I did." Confirmed the leader in blue. "She claims to have escaped and that she doesn't know where she and Donnie were being held."

Raphael retrieved his sai, giving them both a spin, "Oh Yeah? Well, maybe a few rounds with my sai will jog her memory."

"Hold it, Raph." Leonardo said. "Before you go in there halfcocked, I think we should hear her out."

"You gotta be kidding me." Raphael was fuming now, "She strapped a bomb to master Splinter, Leo. She kidnapped Donnie and, oh yeah, she gave the entire world over to an alien. She's turned traitor, I wouldn't trust her as far as I can throw her."

"I'm not saying that a trust her, I am saying that I believe her story about not knowing where Donnie is." Leonardo said. "Aside from that, she’s the only lead we have.”

"I’m tired of waiting around. There's only one move here, Leo." Raphael jabbed out his sai for emphasis.

"Real nice, Raph. What are you going to do? Torture her? We don't torture people."

"Yeah well, how bad do things have to get before we change things, Leo." Raphael fanned out April's tessen between them, the blade glistening in the light. "Casey and I found  _this_ inside April's getaway van. It looked like Donnie knew she was a lost cause, he tried to kill her by flipping the van on purpose."

While Raphael and Leonardo argued, Michelangelo slipped away to the dojo and sat, seiza style, in front of April.

April looked up at him, normally the orange clad turtle gave off a jovial air that had everyone gravitating toward him. This time, however, his air was cold and flat, thick with loneliness.

A simple question bubbled up from the youngest turtle's mouth, "Why?" Michelangelo's voice was calm, focused, and it put April on edge. It was in moments like this that Michelangelo surpassed his brothers in every way.

The question lingered in the air far too long for Michelangelo's tastes and something snapped between them, Michelangelo slammed both of this palms on the ground, his anger bubbling to the surface. "Why?!" he reiterated, his voice cracking, he wasn't used to raising his voice in such a manner.

"Calm down, Mikey."

"Don't tell me to calm down...we trusted you!" he lunged for April but Leonardo quickly wrapped his arms around Michelangelo's middle, drawing him back before he could attack. April's eyes landed on Leonardo's, he was as surprised as she was; they both expected this behavior from Raphael.

Leonardo passed his baby brother off to Raphael and took Michelangelo's place on the carpeted floor. "Answer the question, April."

* * *

A shaft of light cut through the blackness of the darkened alley, revealing little about Pete's whereabouts. The spy was supposed to check in hours ago and when he failed to do so Slash formed a search party consisting of himself, Leatherhead and Rockwell. "Are you sure this is the right place?" Leatherhead asked while sweeping his flashlight along the graffiti decorated walls of the lonely alley.

"As sure as I can be." Rockwell said. "I tracked his two-way radio to these coordinates."

A small wooden shack sat at the back of the alley, inside a soft blue glow whispered for attention. Slash made his way toward the shack and took a tentative step inside. A set of six monitors sat mounted on the back wall, five of which pictured white noise while the last one depicted a screen of solid blue. There were various items on the desk, but it was the broken flash drive that caught his attention. It was easily recognizable as Pete's because of the novelty of its design, a loaf of bread.

Slash scooped up the remains of the drive and cradled them in his hands, if something happened to that birdbrain, he'd never forgive himself. "I think we're too late, gents." Rockwell said, drawing Slash's attention to his teammates.

On the ground beneath Rockwell's feet were drops of blood and clusters of Pete's feathers. Fear rolled down Slash's spine but he didn't let it show, he couldn't. "This proves nothing," Slash said, more so to reassure himself of that fact. "Pete loses feathers all the time."

"Not like this." Leatherhead added, "Look." He used his flashlight to show his team a path of feathers and blood that lead to a sidewalk cellar door. "This has trap written all over it."

"Maybe, but we aren't going to leave Pete behind." Slash said. "We're already down too many members, we can't afford to lose anyone else."

"I agree." Rockwell said.

"I wasn't suggesting we leave him, I'm just saying that we should keep our guards up. Like you said, we can't afford to lose more members, and that includes ourselves." Leatherhead said.

"Yeah, well just in case, I left a note for Casey, telling him where we went and to let the turtles know if we don't come back by morning." Slash said.

The group of wayward mutants entered the cellar with Slash in the lead, the advantage in Slash's eyes being that he could shield the others with his massive body should he need to.

As they wondered deeper into the darkness, Slash felt a drop of thick liquid hit his beak, the coppery smell of it churned his stomach; it was blood.

Leatherhead illuminated the space above Slash, bathing Pete in the flashlight's glow. The spy was suspended upside-down in the air by a rope wrapped around his ankle to secure him in place. Following the rope, the large alligator found a revolving lever and gently lowered his friend into Slash's waiting arms.

Slash set the Pete on the ground carefully in order to assess the damage. There were clumps of feathers in Pete's hands that coincided with the patches of naked skin on his head. "He was in so much pain, he ripped out his own feathers." Rockwell exclaimed as he connected the dots.

With the click of a pull chain, the room was bathed in glorious light, revealing the place in which they found themselves to be storage for the apartments above. Hundreds of lives condensed into several chain-link fence lockers. "Sure took you jerks long enough to show up."

Mondo sat in an open locker, his body draped horizontally over an armchair while a long pull chain swung back and forth, forgotten now that it had served its purpose. "I was starting to think you weren't gonna show up. Poor Pete's been hanging there for hours."

"You did this to him." Slash said, drawing the conclusion from the fact that Mondo didn't appear to be a prisoner, nor did he appear to be injured. Not only that, Mondo's voice was wrong. It held an underlying eerie sound that pulled involuntary goosebumps from Slash's skin (part of the human side of his DNA).

"I did this for him." Mondo corrected. "To make him stronger. Just like I'm going to do you."

That was the only warning they got before Mondo fired his dart gun, pegging both Leatherhead and Rockwell in the chest in rapid succession. Being that the darts landed so close to their respective hearts, the spread of the virus was nearly instant, fast enough to drop the infected to their knees.

Slash glanced at his fallen comrades and then back up at Mondo who just smiled, and before Slash could wonder what that was about, Pete stirred. With a feathered hand, Pete jammed a dart into Slash's thick neck. The tortoise stood up and backed away from Pete before yanking the dart from his rough skin and tossing it to the floor.

Glancing around he noticed that Leatherhead and Rockwell were unconscious and that he was now outnumbered two to one. But these were his friends, mutants he could never bring himself to attack. His only option was to escape. His body was growing heavy and it was hard to move but he had to try.

Slash reached into his pocket and retrieved a smoke bomb egg, one of Donatello's inventions. Slash smiled, even now the brainy turtle was doing his part. He tossed the bomb down and hurried back toward the exit.

After a few feet, Slash began to notice that his legs felt like lead. He held onto the wall for support. A sharp pain squeezed his heart like a fist closing around it. Slash stumbled and clutched at the front of his plastron in an effort to ease the pain but there was no relief to be found in the action. And As Slash began to succumb to the pain, the cellar doors flew open revealing Casey Jones.

"Kid, Run!" The young teen was holding a bat with both hands, ready for a fight. Unfortunately for Slash it wasn't for the side he was thinking and so he didn't have enough time to react before Casey's metal bat connected with the side of his head.

"Stop calling me, Kid." Casey said, standing above his unconscious friend.

" _You see that, little spy? You see that your efforts to stop us are useless?"_ Evixus said. _"Even your ill-gotten effort to join the Mutanimals in order to keep the Turtles safe from yourself was futile. In fact, it only aided our plans to destroy them because you will lead the Hybrids and bring me those turtles' shells."_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for all the reviews, sorry this update took so long.
> 
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	20. Family

 

* * *

Leonard stood on the sandy bank that lined Linda's Lawn, Riverside Park South along the Hudson River. It was here that April claimed to have washed ashore. Leonardo scanned the bank for clues, anything that would corroborate April's story.

He made his way toward a disturbance in the sentiment of the bank, as if someone had crawled out of the water. Next to the disturbance, buried beneath a thin layer of pebbles was a scrap of purple fabric. Leonard instantly dropped to his knees and dug Donatello's loosely knotted mask out of the ground. April was telling the truth about her escape.

She had, indeed, been swept away by an aqueduct, the most likely of which being Tunnel No. 1, which ran south from W79th street to lower Manhattan. Donatello was in the city! Leonardo teased the knot loose and soothed out wrinkled fabric with gentle fingers, a silent apology and a vow that he would not rest until Donatello was back home.

Leonardo folded his brother's mask, tucked it away and stood up once more. Turning around to face the skyline of the city, he calculated, there were hundreds of buildings that fed into the Number 1 Aqueduct. But, taking into account the four block stretch of land that made up Linda's Lawn, narrowed the search to buildings between W65th and 79th street.

It wasn't much, but at least it was a start. Then, out of the corner of his eye, Leonardo saw the largest broadcasting tower in the city and, the only one capable of brainwashing everyone in New York. Of course!

* * *

April pulled her knees up to her chest as best she could, given the restraints around her ankles; it had been a few hours since she'd revealed everything to the Turtles. Now, it was up to them to decide if she was telling the truth.

Then, Michelangelo appeared in the doorway carrying a steaming bowl of something that smelled delicious. Her stomach growled in anticipation. "I made you something to eat." He said, before placing the bowl down in front of her.

"Thanks." She said but Michelangelo didn't spare her a second look, instead he stood up and padded his way back to the door. "Mikey, wait." April said.

The orange clad turtle stopped as if he'd been slapped and spun around to meet her, his fists clenched tightly at his sides. "What?"

"You asked why I did this." She began, "it's hard to explain but I'll try, if you still want to know."

Michelangelo said nothing, instead he crept back toward April and sat down in front of her, giving her his undivided attention. "Okay, Explain."

"Since I met you guys, my life has been nothing but chaotic." Michelangelo winced, was this supposed to make him feel better?

Seeing the look on the orange-banded turtle's face, April continued. "But it's a wonderful chaos that I am lucky to be part of. Watching all of you help people made me want to do the same. When Master Splinter asked me to train too, it was like a dream come true. But, I had to work ten times as hard if I wanted to catch up, and I wanted so badly to catch up. I could see you guys leaving me behind." April lamented.

"Then something amazing happened. Suddenly, I realized the extent of my psychic powers. And for the first time, catching up wasn't an unattainable goal. But when I lost my powers to the sphere, that feeling came back but it was worse because by then I was invested in the team. The thought of going back to my normal life scared me so I tried to keep it hidden."

"I never knew you felt that way." Michelangelo stated, empathetic as ever. "Why didn't you say something?"

"Are you kidding, how was I supposed to talk about something like that? I didn't think you'd understand." She sighed. "So, I made a deal with Evixus: my power in exchange for Donnie's mind."

"How could you take that deal?" Michelangelo asked.

"I was desperate and I wasn't thinking clearly, Evixus made sure of that, he fed my anger and anxiety so much that I was ready to do anything he asked of me."

"How can I believe you now? How do I know Evixus didn't send you here to capture the rest of us?"

"You just have to have faith." April stated truthfully.

Michelangelo scoffed, the nerve! "Oh, like you had faith in us? You should have told us how you were feeling before it got this out of hand." Michelangelo stood up, "What hurts the most is that you didn't trust us to have your back." On that note, Michelangelo left April alone.

Mikey had a right be upset, after all, each turtle had confided in her in their moments of weakness. Each one giving her a precious tidbit of vulnerability out of trust. Pieces of their souls that wove her into their lives forever…

* * *

**Three Years Ago**

In a secret tunnel about three blocks from the lair Michelangelo wiped the tears from his eyes with the back of his bandaged hand. It had been a few days since the incident with the wasp egg but he was still being haunted by nightmares of a different outcome. Paralyzing nightmares in which he was forced to watch as his brother's became wasp food.

"Are you crying?" April dropped down next to Michelangelo, from the way his body stiffened, she could tell he wasn't expecting anyone to find him.

Luckily, it was dark enough for him to hide his swollen eyes, he pasted a fake smile on his face, a bitter emotion that twisted his features unnaturally. "Me? Of course not. Michelangelo never cries."

April decided not to press the issue and instead focus on the mossy bricks of the tunnel walls ahead. And, after a few minutes said, "I heard that you totally saved your brothers from being bug food the other day."

"Things could have easily gone the other way." He admitted, "let's face it, I'm not smart like Donnie, strong like Raph, or brave like Leo. I know that everyone thinks I'm a screw up and they're right, I just got lucky."

"You're not giving yourself enough credit." April said, "You managed to remember Donnie's instructions and finish the antibody. Then you came up with a plan to get close enough to cure your brothers. Then you took on three giant wasps, by yourself, while your brothers recovered. That's not luck, that's strength, bravery and intelligence rolled into one."

Michelangelo turned to face her, his eyes wet with happiness, no one had ever said those things to him before. "Know what, I am lucky, I'm lucky I have a you, sis." He pulled her into a signature Michelangelo hug.

* * *

**Two Years Ago**

Raphael ripped a vent turbine from its casing and threw it clear across the roof where it hit a wall and bounced back at his feet in an act of defiance. He wheeled his leg back and kicked the offensive object down to the alley below. Then as an added bonus, threw a shrunken at a T.V. antenna with such ferocity that it, too, fell off the roof.

Satiated, his anger melted into shame and guilt as he slummed down against the wall. He sighed, it had only been a few minutes ago and the memory was still fresh in his mind. Why couldn't his brother's see that everything he did was for a reason? He honestly wasn't trying to hurt Leo…

As if that didn't make him feel guilty enough, he'd been reprimanded by his sensei and brothers about his anger…again. He wasn't angry this time though, right? "They just don't get it." Raphael let out and exasperated breath and rested his forehead on his forearm which was draped over his knee.

The sound of shoes shuffling across the rooftop drew Raphael to unfold at the intrusion. Through the light of the moon he made out a familiar human face. "April? What are you doing here?"

"I could ask you the same thing." She said, making her way over to Raphael before taking a seat next to him. "I found this after an antenna nearly beaned me." April explained as she held up a Hamato Clan shuriken, its symbol glistening in the moonlight.

Raphael plucked the projectile from her hands, "Sorry." He mumbled.

"You okay?"

"What makes you think I'm not?"

"Well, it's either that or you have a thing against people watching T.V." She said. "You wanna talk about it?"

"Ain't nothing to talk about?" He crossed his arms over his chest.

"Okay." If there was one thing April knew about Raphael, it was that he would share his feelings when he felt like it. April drew her legs up against her body and leaned her head back against the wall. She took in the purple clouds of smog left behind by a day of New York traffic. "It's a nice night."

"Ugh! It's my brothers!" Raphael interrupted. "They're always telling me how I feel. I wasn't angry. Leo turned his back to me, I saw an opening and I took it."

"Uh, Raph, I'm gonna need more to go on here." April said, turning her full attention to the red-banded turtle.

"We were training by playing a round of last-turtle-standing and I attacked Leo."

"Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't that what you're supposed to do?" she paused.

"Yes, but technically, the fight was over." Raphael admitted. "Okay, maybe I took it a little too far. I wasn't trying to hurt Leo but he lets his guard down when he thinks he's won." Raphael added. "Then, everyone started freaking out. I mean, I thought the point of training was to prepare ourselves for anything. Do you think shredder and them are gonna back down? No, they are going to keep fighting until someone is dead."

"That's true." April said. "But I think the reason Master Splinter has you fight one another is so that you can see each other's weaknesses. You know that Leo lets his guard down which will lead you to be more alert to what the enemy will do next. This brand of training forces each of you to become the stronger parts of the others. That, you guys are stronger together."

Raphael felt a small smile tug at the corner of his mouth and he draped an arm over April's shoulder, "You guys? You're in this with us, Sister."

* * *

**Last Year**

Leonardo landed on the roof of the farmhouse, a gentle breezed wafted through April's open window, pulling the curtains with it. Hopefully she was still awake. Before, Leonardo had a chance to announce his presence, April appeared in the window. "Leo? What are you doing out there?"

"Not watching you sleep if that makes this less awkward." He said quickly.

"Okay, I wasn't. I am now, though." April said, a gentle teasing inflection woven into her words. He wasn't amused. "What's up?"

"It's nothing. I just came to check on you, in case you lost your sight again. I can see that you haven't so I'll get going." Leonardo's stance changed slightly and April knew he was ready to jump into the darkness and disappear.

"Wait a minute." April said quickly, "I can sense that there's more to your visit than that. Do you wanna come in and talk about it?" April offered, but she could tell that he wouldn't be persuaded easily, time to up the ante. "I'll make you some hot chocolate." She added.

"With marshmallows?" Leonardo chanced.

"As many as you want." April said, stepping back from her window to give Leonardo room to enter, which he did with all the swiftness of a shadow. He stood awkwardly in the center of the room, he may be a mutant turtle but he was still a teenage boy, standing in a girl's room, in the middle of a spooky forest.

"I don't have cooties." April pointed out. "Just sit on the bed and I'll be right back. Don't leave, I really want to listen to what you have to say." Those words made Leonardo tingle with warmth, maybe it would be okay to talk about his problem after all.

April returned a few moments later and handed Leonardo a cup of cocoa filled to the brim with mini marshmallows. Leonardo thanked her and plucked one of the soft pillows from the peak before popping it into his mouth. On occasion, Leonardo loved a good three cheese, pepperoni, marshmallow pizza. Mm-mm.

"So, what's going on?" April asked, ripping Leo from his musings.

"I lost face in front of you and I'm ashamed as a hero and as your leader." He said carefully.

"Leo, is this about the Chimera?" April asked. He nodded. "Don't worry about that anymore."

"How can I not? I almost gave up on them, on you."

"The Keyword is Almost." April said, "Look, you had a moment of weakness but it doesn't reflect who you are. In the end, you did the right thing. That's what matters. But if you need forgiveness then you have it, always, no matter what."

"Really? Why?"

"Because we're family."

"That's it? It's that simple?"

"Yeah."

* * *

**Now**

April's Tessen cut through the air with purpose and accuracy, its sharp silvery blade reflecting what little light her makeshift prison provided. It whistled through the air in that familiar way, singing for her before cutting through her restraints.

"You're going to need that," Leonard said.

"For what? I'm not going to fight you for my life, if you don't believe me then you can just end it now."

"If I didn't believe you, I would have." He said. "Mikey, Raph, and I had a chat about this, what sort of family would we be if we didn't give you a chance at redemption." He made a statement of that fact, his brothers nodded as if to confirm.

"I won't let you down." April said, though the Turtles still looked pretty pissed. She couldn't blame them for that, she'd deal with it. Anything to get Donnie back.

"Prove it by helping us bring Donnie home." Leonardo said, a hint of mischief in his eyes.

"Does that mean, you found him?" April stood up, grabbing her Tessen on the way. "Where is he?"

"The Channel 6 Building."

"So close." Raphael said. "You jerk." He said, punching Leo in the arm, "You made us sit through a stupid team meeting and you didn't tell us you found him?"

"I didn't think you'd listen if I told you, you'd want to go guns blazing." Leonardo confessed.

"Damn straight." Raphael said. "They're gonna pay for what they did to us."

"Wait a minute Raph, we should get in touch with the Mighty Mutanimals, I have a feeling we're gonna need all the help we can get for this one."

"On it." Michelangelo said, just as eager as the others to bring Donatello back home. And perhaps in a few hours he would be, safe and sound, yelling at him to get out of his lab.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry about the long break guys, I started grad school and didn't give myself enough time to write. I will be updating but they won't come as frequently as before. There are about five more chapters left of this so I hope you guys stick around. Thanks for understanding.
> 
> Episodes in order referenced:  
> Parasitica  
> The Good, the Bad, and Casey Jones  
> Eyes of the Chimera


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